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FIFTH  ANNUAL  CONVENTION 

OF  THE 

FARMER -LABOR  PARTY 

OF  ILLINOIS 

HELD  AT 


DECATUR,  ILLINOIS 
September  8  and  9,  1923 


GIFFORD  ERNEST,  Secretary 
Headquarters:  166  West  Washington  Street 

CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


FIFTH  ANNUAL  CONVENTION  OF  THE 
FARMER-LABOR  PARTY 
OF  ILLINOIS 


FIRST  DAY — Morning  Session 


Decatur,  III.,  Sept.  8,  1923 

The  Fifth  Annual  Convention  of  the 
Farmer-Labor  Party  of  Illinois  was  called 
to  order  at  ten  o’clock  a.  m.,  in  Moose  Hall, 
Decatur,  on  the  above  date,  Frank  A.  Leven, 
State  Chairman,  presiding. 

Credentials  Committee:  The  Chair  ap¬ 
pointed  the  following  Committee  on  Cre¬ 
dentials: 

Thos.  G.  McCabe,  Batavia,  Chairman 

George  A.  Irwin,  Evanston 

J.  J.  McGuinn,  Eldorado 

Julia  Lordan,  Centralia 

Harry  E.  Scheck,  Chicago 

John  H.  Walker,  Springfield 

Herb.  Halls,  Danville 


ADDRESSES  OF  WELCOME 

Elmer  R.  Elder,  Mayor  of  Decatur,  de¬ 
livered  the  address  of  welcome  in  behalf  of 
the  city.  The  following  is  an  excerpt  from 
his  speech: 

I  am  glad  to  extend  a  welcome  to  con¬ 
ventions  which  meet  here  to  centralize 
the  convictions  of  men  upon  political  (in 
the  broader  sense)  and  governmental  ques¬ 
tions  and  problems. 

Decatur  is  closely  associated  with  farm 
and  labor  interests  and  any  measure  de¬ 
signed  to  give  to  these  two  great  classes 
of  our  population  all  that  is  rightfully  theirs 
or  improve  their  business  and  living  condi¬ 
tions,  should  meet  with  the  approval  of  all 
good  citizens. 

Your  party  may  do  much  to  command  the 
respect  so  essential  to  the  accomplishment 
of  the  laudable  purpose  of  helping  to  make 
this  Government  a  Government  of  equal  rep¬ 
resentation  and  of  equal  rights  and  privi¬ 
leges.  When  that  is  accomplished,  your 
problems  will  have  met  their  solution;  and 
beyond  that,  neither  your  party  nor  any 
other  party  can  hope  to  venture  and  endure. 

Decatur,  therefore,  extends  her  welcome  in 
the  firm  confidence  that  what  you  say  and 
do  here  will  always  be  intended  for  the 
betterment  of  the  conditions  of  mankind 
and  the  welfare  of  all  elements  of  this  great 
nation. 

James  A.  Henson,  former  State  Sen¬ 
ator,  Attorney  for  the  Central  Body  of  De¬ 
catur,  and  a  member  of  the  Bricklayers’ 
Union,  was  then  introduced  by  the  Chair¬ 
man  and  delivered  an  address  of  welcome 
on  behalf  of  Organized  Labor  of  Decatur. 
In  part  he  said: 

I  couldn’t  say  that  you  are  welcome  in  De¬ 
catur.  *  *  *  You  are  welcome  in  Deca¬ 

tur  to  the  man  or  the  woman  or  the  hu¬ 
man  being  who  has  a  perspective  of  mind 
such  as  yourselves  regarding  the  human 
family.  To  the  Association  of  Commerce, 
you  know  you  are  not  welcome;  and  to  other 
organized  business  which  adopts  an  arbi¬ 
trary  policy  of  governing  the  human  family, 
and  usurp  the  function  of  government,  you 
certainly  are  not  welcome.  Those  people 
who  live  in  this  community  who  think  as 
every  individual  should  think,  and  believe 


in  a  democracy,  certainly  invite  you  to  De¬ 
catur  to  remain,  and  you  are  perfectly  wel¬ 
come.  So  my  address  of  welcome  will  be 
limited  to  the  kinds  of  people  who  will  give 
you  the  liberty  to  think.  The  liberties  which 
we  formerly  had  have  been  abridged  and 
denied.  To"  the  injunction  judges  and  such 
others,  you  are  not  welcome  here.  You  are 
a  despicable  element  to  them,  and  theiy 
would  prefer  that  you  did  not  meet  here. 
To  the  men  and  women  who  believe  in 
law  and  order,  to  the  man  who  believes  in 
enforcement  of  the  law,  irrespective  of  so¬ 
cial  status  or  social  standing,  you  are  wel¬ 
come. 

I  might  say  to  you  that  one  thing  struck 
me  while  looking  at  you,  and  I  have  ad¬ 
dressed  a  great  many  men  and  women  in 
my  time  and  have  had  an  opportunity  to 
observe.  You  don’t  show  the  overfeeding 
that  some  bodies  that  I  have  addressed, 
show.  But  when  I  look  into  the  faces  of 
this  type  of  citizenship  it  rather  makes  me 
feel  glad  that  I  have  an  opportunity  of 
commingling  with  you — you  are  not  so  hand¬ 
some,  you  are  not  so  overly  dressed,  but 
you  look  serious  and  I  think  that  you  are 
honest,  and  I  hope  that  you  have  no  ulterior 
motive  in  your  mind  with  reference  to  any 
organization  of  the  human  family.  You  do 
not  show,  as  men  in  other  conventions  which 
I  have  attended,  that  lurking,  nervous, 
twitching  eye  of  the  delegates  for  the  op¬ 
portunity  to  expound  or  orate  upon  the 
floor,  to  carry  through  some  idea  that  had 
in  it  an  ultimate  charge  of  dynamite  that 
would  blow  everybody  else  off  the  map,  for 
them  to  obtain  their  selfish  ends.  I  don’t 
seem  to  see  that  in  the  faces  of  the  meeting 
here. 

Another  pleasing  think  that  struck  me  was 
that  you  are  meeting  in  convention  with 
men  who  want  to  organize  for  better  con¬ 
ditions  for  the  men  on  the  farm,  in  the  fac¬ 
tory  and  workshop.  *  *  * 

I  am  not  a  member  of  the  Farmer-Labor 
Party.  I  am  one  of  those  fighting,  fault¬ 
finding,  truth-saying  Republicans.  That  don’t 
mean  that  the  Republican  Party  owns  me. 
*  *  *  But  I  know  they  are  wrong.  They 

are  making  a  lot  of  mistakes,  and  they  are 
no  better  nor  any  worse  than  the  Democratic 
Party.  I  don’t  think  either  one  is  doing 
anything  for  the  human  family.  *  *  *  And 

I  am  disgusted  with  them  and  they  are 
disgusted  with  themselves,  excepting  the  of¬ 
fice  holders.  So  it  is  necessary  that  some 
new  party  come  up. 

And  then  the  great  economic  problem 
arises.  The  Republican  Party  and  the  Demo¬ 
cratic  Party  have  been  so  wise  in  inter¬ 
preting  the  constitution  that  they  have  de¬ 
nied  to  some  people  the  right  to  live;  they 
have  misinterpreted  and  contorted  the  law 
until  the  employers  can  enjoin  any  one  of 
you  men  but  you  can’t  enjoin  them.  And 
in  welcoming  you  here,  while  there  are  not 
so  many  delegates  and  you  are  a  new  party, 
I  want  you  to  know  that  I  believe  that  in 
this  community,  in  Lincoln  County,  and  in 
the  other  counties,  there  are  thousands  of 
farmers  who  now  know  they  have  been 
fooled  and  lied  to  by  somebody,  and  there 
are  thousands  of  men  in  the  "factory  and 
shop  who  know  that  they  are  being  fooled 
every  day,  and  they  are  helpless  about  it. 
And  if  you  can  build  a  nucleus  around  which 
other  men  can  go  out  to  the  polls  and  vote 
for  better  conditions,  your  party  will  suc¬ 
ceed. 

You  come  here  because,  from  all  of  your 
studies  and  thoughts,  you  see  the  unequal 
application  of  the  law  in  America,  you  see 


A> 


P  f  r  '  1 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIFTH  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY 


the  unequal  application  of  the  taxes.  For 
instance,  I  just  read  in  the  paper  this  morn¬ 
ing  that  this  great  light  and  power  com¬ 
pany  of  Decatur  only  paid  taxes  on  an  es¬ 
timated  value  of  $7,500.00.  I  am  paying  more 
taxes  than  that  myself,  and  I  am  not 
wealthy.  *  *  *  You  need  some  new  party 

for  that,  because  they  have  got  the  State’s 
Attorney,  and  the  Attorney  General,  and 
they  have  the  judges  of  the  court  and  the 
board  of  review,  and  the  tax  assessors.  There 
is  an  unequal  application  of  the  law,  in  the 
principle  of  taxation.  There  is  an  unequal  ap¬ 
plication  of  injunctions.  *  *  *  That  is  what 
makes  people  think.  It  isn't  fair.  You  are  try¬ 
ing  to  alleviate  the  conditions,  and  I  say  to 
you  that  I  think  there  are  millions  of  people 
in  America  who  feel  the  same  way.  My  idea 
is  that  by  an  orderly,  legally  constituted 
porcess  in  politics  w'e  can  change  America’s 
policy  so  that  the  human  right  will  remain 
for  all  time  and  be  established  higher  than 
the  dollar  mark  in  America — we  can  have 
a  party  that  will  be  the  very  symbol  of  de¬ 
mocracy  in  America. 


RESPONSE  AND  ADDRESS  BY  CHAIR¬ 
MAN  LEVEN 

Chairman  Leven  responded  to  these  ad¬ 
dresses.  He  said: 

We  know  that  we  have  made  progress  in 
this  state,  and  we  know  that  we  are  making 
progress  today.  We  can  recall  the  big  propo¬ 
sition  that  came  before  our  convention  in 
Rockford  last  year  was  the  question  of  the 
defeat  of  the  new  constitution  as  proposed 
at  that  time  for  the  State  of  Illinois. 
Through  that  convention  last  year  we  ap¬ 
pealed  to  our  people  to  get  on  the  job  and 
defeat  that  proposed  constitution,  and  we 
know  without  a  question  of  a  doubt  that  to 
a  great  extent  we  were  responsible  for  the 
overwhelming  defeat  that  was  administered 
to  it.  At  the  same  time  we  recognize  and 
give  due  credit  to  the  various  other  move¬ 
ments  which  assisted  in  bringing  about  this 
defeat. 

That  is  only  one  of  the  methods  by  which 
we  have  shown  that  in  the  State  of  Illinois 
we  are  making  progress  politically.  We 
know  that  at  this  time  a  sentiment  for  in¬ 
dependent  political  action  on  the  part  of  the 
producing  class  exists  as  it  never  existed  be¬ 
fore  in  this  state.  We  know  that  wherever  we 
go,  whether  it  be  to  the  workers  on  the 
farms  or  the  workers  in  the  city,  we  find 
they  are  willing  and  eager  to  join  in  a 
movement  that  will  bring  about  a  political 
organization  representing  the  views  of  the 
farm  and  city  workers — the  producing  class 
of  the  state.  It  is  only  because  we  have  been 
handicapped  by  lack  of  funds  that  we  haven’t 
been  able  to  make  a  greater  showing.  Our 
people  don’t  seem  to  have  realized  yet  that 

it  takes  money  to  organize  a  state  like  this. 

*  *  * 

But  I  am  satisfied  that  if  the  enthusiasm 
that  is  displayed  in  this  convention  today 
continues  after  the  convention  adjourns,  the 
action  taken  at  this  meeting  will  renew  the 
determination  of  the  active  men  and  woman 
throughout  the  state  to  bring  about  a  work¬ 


ing  class  political  party  at  the  earliest  pos¬ 
sible  time. 

I  believe  that  at  this  time  the  Farmer- 
Labor  Party  occupies  a  position  in  this  state 
and  in  many  other  states  that  it  has  never 
occupied  before.  We  find  that  we  receive 
more  favorable  advances  from  those  who  up 
to  this  time  have  steered  clear  of  the  party. 
We  find  that  the  name  “Farmer-Labor”  takes 
hold  of  any  audience  which  we  might  speak 
to.  It  is  something  they  immediately  be¬ 
come  interested  in. 

We  find  that  even  the  parties  that  the 
bosses  control,  especially  the  Republican 
Party,  in  this  state,  in  order  to  keep  their 
control  over  the  state  offices,  are  attempting 
to  steal  practically  everything  that  the 
Farmer-Labor  Party  has  in  its  program  and 
platform.  And  it  again  becomes  our  duty 
to  remind  the  people  in  the  State  of  Illi¬ 
nois  that  it  is  only  another  case  of  being 
fooled  if  they  follow  those  advances.  They 
have  practically  adopted  and  now  stand  on 
a  platform  that  is  like  the  platform  of  the 
Farmer-Labor  Party — they  have  taken  every¬ 
thing  but  the  name  (and  that  name  is  now 
placed  in  a  position  where  it  can’t  be  stolen). 
But  outside  of  that,  the  Republican  Party  to¬ 
day,  when  going  out  before  the  producing 
class,  attempts  to  claim  that  they  stand  for 
the  same  thing  that  the  working  class  po¬ 
litical  party  has  stood  for  ever  since  it  was 
organized.  I  don’t  think  our  people  will  be 
led  into  following  a  program  of  that  kind. 
*  *  *  I  think  that  we  have  learned  from 

past  experience  that  the  promises  and  cam¬ 
paign  pledges  of  the  old  parties  amount  to 
little,  and  the  only  thing  we  can  do  in  this 
convention  is  to  plan  to  keep  on  building, 
in  order  that  at  a  not  far  distant  date  we 
will  be  able  to  come  out  as  a  real  political 
party  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  In  my  opin¬ 
ion,  it  is  the  only  solution  for  the  Farmer- 
Labor  Party.  We  haven’t  time  to  bother 
with  the  politicians  and  opposing  political 
oarties — we  have  a  program  set  for  us  which 
I  am  satisfied  will  be  renewed  in  this  con¬ 
vention.  And  I  am  satisfied  that  this  con¬ 
vention  will  unanimously  vote  to  go  through 
with  that  program  until  we  finally  get  to 
the  place  which  we  intended  to  reach  when 
we  first  organized  the  Farmer-Labor  Party 
of  Illinois. 

We  have  had  during  the  last  year  a  na¬ 
tional  conference  of  the  political  parties  of 
the  working  class,  so-called,  and  the  outcome 
of  that  convention  is  one  of  the  things  that 
I  believe  is  responsible  for  the  increased 
prestige  of  the  Farmer-Labor  Party  at  the 
present  time.  At  that  conference  the  Farmer- 
Labor  Party  again  defied  the  attempts  that 
were  made  to  swing  it  from  the  path  it 
has  always  followed — the  path  of  evolution 
rather  than  revolution. 

A  motion  was  made  and  unanimously  car 
ried  to  give  a  rising  vote  of  thanks  of  the 
convention  to  Mr.  Henson  and  to  extend  to 
him  a  mark  of  appreciation  and  an  invita¬ 
tion  to  become  a  member  of  the  Farmer- 
Labor  Party,  where  he  rightfully  belongs. 
An  amendment  was  offered  that  we  include 
Mayor  Elder,  which  was  accepted  as  part 
of  the  original  motion. 


CALL 


The  call  for  the  Convention  was  read  by  Secretary  Ernest,  as  follows : 


CALL  FOR  FIFTH  CONVENTION  OF  THE  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY  OF  ILLINOIS  AT 
DECATURE,  ILLINOIS,  (MOOS  HALL), 


Greetings: 

The  Fifth  State  Convention  of  the  Farmer- 
Labor  Party  of  Illinois  will  convene  at  De¬ 
catur  at  a  time  when  the  producers  have 
good  reasons  for  encouragement.  The  wide¬ 
spread  growth  of  co-operation  of  wage  work¬ 
ers  and  farmers  in  every  field  of  activity 
where  economic  and  political  interests  are 
involved  is  manifest.  The  success  attend¬ 
ing  the  FARMER-LABOR  MOVEMENT  is 
phenomenal,  and  OUR  PARTY  HAS  A  REC¬ 
ORD  FOR  HONESTY  WITH  THE  UNION 
MOVEMENT  AND  THE  PROMISE  OF  A 
GREAT  FUTURE. 

The  Farmer-Labor  Party  is  the  only  work¬ 
ers’  political  party  in  Illinois  which  admits 
the  unions  into  affiliation  with  it  and  takes 
no  part  in  questions  which  belong  distinctly 


SEPTEMBER  8  and  9,  1923. 

to  the  unions,  and  seeks  no  control  of  or¬ 
ganized  labor.  Nor  does  it  attempt  in  any 
way  to  dictate  its  policies  and  choose  its 
leaders.  The  Farmer-Labor  Party  is  an 
American  political  movement  with  which 
Labor  can  function  on  the  political  field 
without  fear  of  having  the  party  meddle  in 
its  union  affairs.  It  has  no  connection  with 
any  national  or  international  movement 
which  would  make  it  impractical  or  unwise 
for  Labor  to  function  with  it.  Labor  organi¬ 
zations  are  invited  to  send  delegates  to  its 
conventions  and  conferences  who  are  in  ac¬ 
cord  with  the  purposes  and  policy  of  the 
Party. 

Practically  all  economic  issues  have  their 
political  reflections.  The  economic  condi¬ 
tions  resulting  from  the  control  of  industry 

B  I  >  n  i*  M  ■  •  -  ft 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIFTH  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY 


and  government  by  organized  capital  have 
resulted  in  such  political  victories  by  the 
producers  as  the  election  of  SENATOR  FRA¬ 
ZIER  (Nonpartisan  League,  North  Dakota), 
SENATOR  SHIPSTEAD  (Farmer-Labor  Party, 
Minn.);  GOVERNOR  Walton  (Farmer-Labor 
Reconstruction  League,  Okla.);  and,  last 
week,  SENATOR  MAGNUS  JOHNSON  (Far¬ 
mer-Labor  Party,  Minn.).  In  Illinois,  to  the 
State  Federation  of  Labor  belongs  the  credit 
for  defeating  last  fall  the  proposed  new 
state  constitution.  These  victories  illustrate 
what  can  and  is  being  done  by  united  inde¬ 
pendent  political  action  by  farmers  and  wage 
workers  The  abuse  of  capital  s  economic 
power  is  made  intolerable  by  capital’s  con¬ 
trol  of  the  government.  Lately  the  sweeping 
injunction  against  the  railroad  shopcrafts 
has  been  made  permanent,  and  this  chal¬ 
lenges  the  intelligence  and  spirit  of  the 
hosts  of  organized  labor.  MINNESOTA, 
NORTH  DAKOTA,  OKLAHOMA,  HAVE  AN¬ 
SWERED  THIS  CHALLENGE!  HOW  WILL 
ILLINOIS  ANSWER?  THE  GOVERNMENT 
MUST  BE  GIVE  BACK  TO  THOSE  WHO 
SHOULD  POSSESS  IT— THE  PEOPLE! 

When  electing  delegates  to  the  State^  Fed¬ 
eration  of  Labor  convention,  CREDENTIAL 
THEM  TO  REPRESENT  YOUR  ORGANIZA¬ 
TION  AT  THE  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY 
CONVENTION,  and  thus  save  the  expense 
of  sending  additional  delegates.  The  basis 
of  representation  is  as  follows:  Each  county 
and  local  Farmer-Labor  Party  organization 
— One  Delegate  and  one  additional  delegate 
for  each  100  members  or  fraction  thereof. 
Each  local  union,  district  council,  central 
body,  co-operative  society  and  farmer  or¬ 
ganization — One  delegate  and  one  additional 
delegate  for  each  250  members  or  fraction 
thereof. 

Your  organization  is  requested  to  send 
$5.00  as  early  as  possible  to  the  state  office 
for  each  delegate,  to  defray  the  expenses 
of  the  convention.  While  this  is  only  a  re¬ 
quest,  your  compliance  this  year  is  earnestly 
urged  on  account  of  the  necessity  for  funds 
with  which  to  carry  on  the  increasing  Party 
activities. 

Everything  possible  will  be  done  to  work 
in  co-operation  with  the  organized  labor, 
farmer  and  co-operative  movements  of  the 
state.  DON’T  FAIL  TO  HAVE  YOUR  OR¬ 
GANIZATION  REPRESENTED  AT  THE  DE¬ 
CATUR  CONVENTION! 

FRANK  A.  LEVEN,  Danville, 

Chairman. 

GIFFORD  ERNEST, 

Sec.-Treas. 

Headquarters:  166  West  Washington  St., 

Chicago,  Ill. 

Motion  made  and  carried  that  the  call  be 
adopted  as  read  and  recorded  in  the  min¬ 
utes. 


The  chair  appointed  Delegate  Ben  F.  Fer¬ 
ris  as  Sergeant-at-Arms  of  the  convention. 
Brother  Ferris,  on  account  of  his  recent 
illness,  declined.  The  chair  then  appointed 
Charles  F.  Wills. 


APPOINTMENT  OF  COMMITTEES 

The  chair  announced  the  appointment  of 
the  following  committees: 

Committee  On  Constitution:  Theodore  Bis- 
ser,  Quincy;  Dr.  H.  L.  Green,  Quincy;  Ger¬ 
trude  Fitzgerald,  Chicago;  Lewis  Wade,  Dan¬ 
ville;  Miss  Emma  Wienecke,  Rockford. 

Committee  On  Rules  and  Order:  James  W. 
Short,  East  St.  Louis;  Anthony  Koselke, 


Lansing;  Thos.  Polston,  Chicago;  Charles  F. 
Redman,  Chicago;  Josephine  M.  Lovreglio, 
Oh  icago. 

Committee  On  Organization:  Robert  Wil¬ 
son,  Centralia;  Madge  Argo,  Joliet;  Wm. 
Tracy,  Lansing;  James  M.  Cahill,  Chicago; 
Thomas  Cameron,  Belleville;  S.  D.  Wham, 
Cartter;  E.  Menard,  Chicago. 

Committee  On  Resolutions:  Wm.  A.  Lewis, 
Rockford;  A.  *  D.  Sullens,  Benton;  Jay  G. 
Brown,  Chicago;  Bert  Gray,  Collinsville;  Dan 
Lamothe,  Blue  Island;  Wm.  E.  Rodriguez, 
Chicago;  Ruby  H.  Ernest,  Chicago. 

Committee  On  Finance:  David  A.  McVey, 
Chicago;  I.  L.  Truax,  Westville;  Wm.  E.  Col- 
trin,  Centralia;  Dora  Nordboe,  Chicago; 
Charles  F.  Wills,  Chicago;  J.  E.  Gill,  Dan¬ 
ville;  Ardell  Patterson,  Murphysboro. 

Committee  On  Election:  Charles  Hayman, 
Chicago;  Mrs.  P.  J.  Carlson,  Rock  Island;  H. 
A.  Cox,  Benton;  T.  J.  Curry,  Chicago;  Jennie 
W.  Buck,  Chicago. 

Committee  On  Officers’  Reports:  McElroy 
Trout,  Johnston  City;  H.  W.  Olinger,  Odin; 
Robert  M.  Buck,  Chicago;  Adelaide  Bieser, 
Centralia;  John  G.  Clay,  Chicago;  John  F. 
Leheney,  Chicago;  George  W.  Whitehead, 
Chicago. 

Motion  made  and  carried  that  the  appoint¬ 
ments  be  concurred  in. 


Secretary  Ernest  advised  that  he  had 
heard  from  two  members  of  the  State  Ex¬ 
ecutive  Committee — John  E.  Fenwick,  of 
Mount  Olive,  and  J.  T.  Lloyd,  of  Coulter- 
ville,  expressing  regret  at  their  inability  to 
be  present  at  the  convention  and  also  their 
best  wishes  for  its  success. 


The  chair  then  announced  that  the  follow¬ 
ing  committee  had  been  appointed  as  a  Re¬ 
ception  Committee  for  Senator  Shipstead 
and  to  make  arrangements  for  the  meeting: 

Frank  A.  Leven,  Danville,  Chairman;  Wm. 
E.  Rodriguez,  Chicago;  John  Fitzpatrick, 
Chicago;  John  H.  Walker,  Springfield;  Madge 
Argo,  Joliet;  E.  N.  Nockels,  Chicago;  Marian 
Fuller,  Chicago;  A.  D.  Sullens,  Benton;  Ro¬ 
bert  M.  Buck,  Chicago;  Dora  Nordboe,  Chi¬ 
cago;  D.  A.  McVey,  Chicago;  Ruby  H.  Ernest. 
Chicago;  Arthur  Olson,  Chicago;  Glenn  Camp¬ 
bell,  Chicago;  Sam  Finkel,  Chicago;  Wm.  E. 
Coltrin,  Centralia;  Thomas  Cameron,  Belle¬ 
ville;  J.  J.  McGuinn,  Eldorado;  Mrs.  P.  J. 
Carlson,  Rock  Island;  Ed  McChrystal,  Gilles¬ 
pie;  Julia  Lordan,  Centralia;  John  F.  Le¬ 
heney,  Chicago;  Martha  Wollenschlager,  Chi¬ 
cago;  James  Cahill,  Chicago;  H.  C.  Dorne- 
man,  Bloomington;  R.  G.  Williams,  Decatur. 

Motion  made  and  carried  that  the  appoint¬ 
ment  of  this  committee  be  confirmed. 

Delegate  Leheney  moved  that  the  conven¬ 
tion  recess  for  thirty  minutes,  to  give  the 
Credentials  Committee  an  opportunity  to 
report.  Carried. 

Upon  reconvening,  Delegate  Irwin  made 
a  partial  report  for  the  Credentials  Com¬ 
mittee.  Motion  made  and  carried  that  it 
be  accepted  as  progress  and  that  the  dele¬ 
gates  be  seated.  (Full  report  of  committee 
will  be  inserted  later.) 

Motion  made  and  carried  that  we  stand 
adjourned  until  1:30  o’clock  p.  m. 


FIRST  DAY — Afternoon  Session 


Chairman  Leven  called  the  meeting  to 
order,  and  the  Credentials  Committee  pre¬ 
sented  its  final  report.  Motion  made  and 
carried  that  the  report  be  received  and  the 
delegates  seated.  The  complete  report  of 
the  committee  follows: 

BRICK  AND  CLAY  WORKERS 

District  Council  No.  1,  Cook  County  and 
vicinity — Wm.  Roulo,  Wm.  Tracy,  John  H. 
Walker. 


District  Council  No.  2  (Central  and  South¬ 
ern  Illinois) — N.  J.  Rogers,  Streator. 

Local  No.  1,  Chicago — James  McGraham, 
Oscar  Erhardt. 

Local  No.  2,  Lansing — Anthony  H.  Ko¬ 
selke,  John  Reed,  Charles  H.  Lange  and 
Barney  Caserio. 

Local  No.  3,  Blue  Island — Dan  Lamonthe, 
A.  Beedy,  T.  Cunningham  and  Wm.  Revoir, 

Local  No.  49,  Chicago — Geo.  A.  Irwin. 

Local  No.  116,  Danville — -Cloyd  H.  George, 
Harry  Hartman,  Lewis  Wade  and  Leo  George. 

Local  No.  214,  Manteno — Walter  Renwick. 


4 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIFTH  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY 


Local  No.  261,  Roanoke — John  Bacquet,  Jr. 
Local  No.  321,  St.  Elmo — John  H.  Peterson. 

BUILDING  TRADES 

Aurora — P.  J.  Hickey. 

CARPENTERS 

Local  No.  183,  Peoria — V.  W.  Storry. 

Local  No.  360,  Galesburg — Chas.  Benson. 
Local  No.  644,  Pekin — A.  B.  Shacklette. 
Local  No.  7421,  Decatur — Joe  Ousting. 

Local  No.  792,  Rockford — Wm.  A.  Lewis. 
Local  No.  1367,  Chicago — Frank  H.  Kuch- 
enbecker,  Brother  Kmilek. 

CENTRAL  BODIES 

Belleville  Trades  Council — W.  T.  Christo¬ 
pher. 

Benton  Trades  Council — Henry  A.  Cox. 
Bloomington  Trades  and  Labor  Assembly 
— H.  C.  Dornemann. 

Centralia  Trades  and  Labor  Assembly — Ju¬ 
lia  Lordan,  Wm.  E.  Coltrin. 

Chicago  Federation  of  Labor — W.  S.  Deuel, 
Geo.  H.  Plowright,  Arthur  Olsen  and  J.  J. 
Uhlmann. 

Collinsville  Trades  Council — Bert  Gray. 
Danville  Trades  and  Labor  Council — Frank 
A.  Levin,  John  E.  Gill,  R.  R.  Barger. 

Herrin  Trades  Council — G.  W.  Piatt,  J.  W. 
Ford. 

Joliet  Trades  and  Labor  Council — Mrs. 
Madge  Argo. 

Lake  County  Central  Labor  Union,  Wauke¬ 
gan — P.  W.  Slack. 

La  Salle  Trades  Council — Chas.  Bennett. 
Quincy  Trades  and  Labor  Assembly — Theo¬ 
dore  Bisser. 

Peoria  Trades  and  Labor  Assembly — Harry 
A.  Wickert. 

Rtockford  Central  Labor  Union — -Art.  C. 
Johnson. 

Springfield  Federation  of  Labor — John  F. 
Gaffigan. 

Westville  Central  Labor  Union  —  Herbert 
Halls. 

FARMER-LABOR  PARTY  BRANCHES 

Adams  County  Branch,  Quincy — Dr.  H.  L. 
Green. 

Marion  County  Branch,  Sandoval — S.  D. 
Wham,  Cartter;  H.  W.  Olinger,  Odin. 

Rock  Island  Branch — Mrs.  P.  J.  Carlson. 
Staunton  Branch — John  H.  Sturm. 

Cook  County  Branch,  Chicago  —  Glenn 
Campbell,  Robert  M.  Buck,  Dora  Nordboe. 


CHICAGO 

1st  Ward — Tim  Spain 
4th  Ward — E.  N.  Nockels 
5th  Ward — Lewis  P.  Hill 
6th  Ward — J.  G.  Brown 
8th  Ward — Gifford  Ernest 
9th  Ward — George  W.  Whitehead 
12th  Ward- — Thos.  J.  Curry 
15th  Ward — Hattie  Hayman 
19th  Ward — E.  F.  Cook 
20th  Ward — John  F.  Leheney 
21st  W'ard — David  Bosgraaf 
22nd  Ward — Ruby  H.  Ernest 
23rd  Ward — Harry  E.  Scheck 
26th  Ward — Marian  Fuller 
28th  Ward — Josephine  M.  Lovreglio 
29th  Ward — Adrian  Vanderpoel 
30th  Ward — Charles  Hayman 
31st  Ward — Eulalia  Burke 
34th  Ward — Martha  Wollenschlager 
36th  Ward — Edward  McChrystal 
37th  Ward — Jennie  W.  Buck 
39th  Ward — Mabel  McVey 
40th  Ward — Sam  Finkel 


ENVELOPE  MAKERS 

Local  No.  16073,  Centralia — Adelaide  Bieser. 

FOUNDRY  EMPLOYES 

Local  No.  38,  Belleville — Paul  Schwesig. 
Local  No.  7,  Belleville — Thomas  Cameron, 
Henry  Dawson. 


GARMENT  WORKERS 


Local  No.  64, 
necke. 


Rockford — Miss 

LATHERS 


Emma 


Wie- 


Local  No.  74,  Chicago — David  McVey,  Ed¬ 
ward  Menard,  Ben  F.  Ferris. 


MACHINISTS 

Lodge  No.  134,  Chicago — Chas.  F.  Wills. 


MINE  WORKERS 

Local  No.  52,  Centralia  —  Forest  Devor, 
Mike  Lordan. 


Local  No.  91.  Johnston  City — Matt  Rosetti. 
Local  No.  125,  Mount  Olive — Curt  Truetz- 

schler.  , , 

Local  No.  264,  Collinsville — Philip  Rreider. 
Local  No.  303.  Orient — Robert  Gault,  J.  T. 
Lucas,  Frank  Waite,  Joe  Caumient.  Jack 

Roberts.  „ 

Local  No.  473,  La  Salle — Chas.  Bennett. 
Local  No.  493,  Nokomis — Geo.  Mehochko. 
Local  517,  Tovey — Wm.  Gorton,  Joe  Shears, 
Harry  Roberts. 

Local  No.  621,  Sandoval — Thos.  Snodgrass. 
Local  No.  685,  Collinsville,  Robert  Berto- 
lero 

Local  No.  711,  Johifston  City — McElroy 
Trout. 

Local  No.  715,  Odin — Pearl  Tadlock. 

Local  No.  728,  Mt.  Olive — Chas.  Hagen. 
Local  No.  798.  Harrisburg — Joe  Holden. 
Local  No.  826.  Collinsville — A.  A.  Mrovka. 
Local  No.  1356,  Georgetown — Earl  Attan. 
Local  No.  1397,  Centralia — Alex  Reese,  Sr., 
Alex  Reese,  Jr.,  Robert  Wilson. 

Local  No.  1426,  Johnston  City — Ed  Thome. 
Local  No.  1440,  Taylor  Springs — A.  M.  Cor- 
razza. 

Local  No.  1782,  Royalton — Perry  Powers. 
George  Dilbeck. 

Local  No.  1795,  Herrin — A.  A.  Avitts. 

Local  No.  1865,  Eldorado — J.  J.  McGuinn. 
Local  No.  1959.  Benton — A.  1).  Sullens. 
Local  No.  2219,  Gillespie — Sam  Stewart, 
Andrew  Easton. 

Local  No.  2621.  Herrin — Frank  Owens. 

Local  No.  26*56.  Livingston — Geo.  Saka- 
loskv,  Robt.  Windisch,  Jr. 

Local  No.  2657,  West  Frankfort — William 
Winstead.  Demnsev  Ward,  L.  Freeman.  Jr. 
Local  No.  2679,  Hillsboro — Steele  Leake. 
Local  No.  3160,  Sesser — Ross  White,  D.  J. 
Kelley. 

Local  No.  3192.  Johnston  City — J.  R.  Woods. 
Local  No.  3543,  Benton — G.  R.  Price,  C.  C. 
Beaty,  C.  T.  Ruemmler. 

Local  No.  3703,  Dowell — Wm.  O’Brien,  Gil¬ 
bert  Roger. 

Local  No.  3761,  Pana — Fred  Fggerman. 
Local  No.  4049,  South  Standard — Owen  Mc- 
Whinnie. 

Local  No.  4280,  West  Frankfort — John  Zim- 
belman,  Lee  America  Ezra. 

Local  No.  4821,  Belleville  —  Jacob  Bohll- 
mann. 

Loral  No.  5509,  Westville — H.  M.  Rucker, 
Ed  Hembrey. 

MOLDERS 

Local  No.  182,  Belleville— Ed  Wolter,  A1 
Towers. 

PAINTERS 


Local  No.  180,  Chicago — Thos.  G.  McCabe, 
Geo.  Heh.  Geo.  Sfeoe.  John  Graham,  Louis 
Swets.  Wm.  E.  Rodriguez. 

Local  No.  184.  Chicago — H.  Rittman,  Ed 
J.  Rvan,  Chas.  F.  Redman. 

Local  No.  194.  Chicago — Geo.  M.  Hanson. 
Tom  Lee.  Alfred  Rasmussen,  C.  A.  Lund,  A. 
C.  Anderson. 

Local  No.  2*88.  Decatur — Monroe  Strohl. 

Local  No.  4  48,  Aurora — John  N.  W'agner, 
John  F.  Renner. 

Local  No.  787,  Johnston  City — W.  F.  Pitt¬ 
man. 

Local  No.  505,  Streator — Fred  P.  Schroeder. 

PRINTING  PRESSMEN 

Local  No.  3.  Chicago — Harry  McNerney, 
.Tav  Horgan,  W.  Thos.  Polston,  Scott  Mar- 
riner,  James  Cahill. 

RAILWAY  CARMEN 

Lodge  No.  646,  East  St.  Louis — James  W. 
Short. 

RETAIL  CLERKS 

Local  No.  1130,  Herrin — Charles  Grace. 

TEAMSTERS 

Laundrv  Drivers  Local  No.  712,  Chicago — 
John  G.  Clay,  Frank  A.  Theis. 

TYPOGRAPHICAL  UNION 

Local  No.  16,  Chicago — D.  J.  Fitzgerald. 

Sam  Riley,  Peoria — (No  organization  given) 

FR A TER  N A L  DELEG A TES 

Central  Labor  Union,  Gary,  Ind. — F.  H.  De¬ 
trick. 

Farmer-Labor  Party  of  Indiana — Carl  Mul¬ 
len. 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON  RULES 
AND  ORDER  OF  BUSINESS 

Report  was  made  by  Delegate  Koselke. 
Motion  made  and  carried  to  adopt  report. 
Report  follows: 


5 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIFTH  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY 


Rule  1.  The  convention  shall  be  called 
to  order  at  9  a.  m.,  and  remain  in  session 
until  12:30  p.  m.,  and  convene  at  1:30  p.  m., 
and  remain  in  session  until  5  p.  m„  and  that 
a  night  session  be  held  Saturday  night,  Sep¬ 
tember  8th,  at  7  p.  m.,  and  continue  until 
such  time  as  adjourned. 

Rule  2.  Robert’s  rules  shall  be  the  guide 
on  all  matters  not  herein  provided. 

Rule  3.  Speeches  shall  be  limited  to  five 
minutes,  but  the  time  of  speaking  may  be 
extended  by  majority  vote  of  the  convention. 
No  delegate  shall  speak  twice  on  any  one 
subject  until  all  other  delegates  who  desire 
have  spoken  unless  given  permission  by  con¬ 
vention.  The  committee  recommends  that 
this  rule  be  strictly  observed. 

Rule  4.  All  resolutions  to  be  submitted 
to  the  convention  shall  be  in  the  hands  of 
the  Resolutions  Committee  prior  to  5  o’clock 
p.  m.,  September  8th. 

Rule  5.  All  addresses  to  the  convention 
that  shall  be  made  during  its  sessions  shall 
be  confined  in  time  to  not  exceed  30  min¬ 
utes,  except  by  majority  vote  of  the  conven¬ 
tion. 


SPECIAL  ORDER  OF  BUSINESS 

The  nominations  for  election  of  officers  to 
be  made  Saturday,  September  8th,  at  4:30 
p.  m.,  and  election  to  take  place  Sunday, 
September  9th,  at  11  o’clock  a.  m. 


REGULAR  ORDER  OF  BUSINESS 

1.  Reading  minutes  of  previous  session 

will  be  dispensed  with  unless  called 
for. 

2.  Report  of  Committee  on  Credentials. 

3.  Report  of  officers. 

4.  Report  of  regular  committees. 

5.  Report  of  special  committees. 

6.  Unfinished  business. 

7.  New  business. 

8.  Adjournment. 

(Signed) 

JAMES  W.  SHORT,  Chairman. 

ANTHONY  H.  KOSELKE,  Secretary. 

JOSEPHINE  MARIE  LOVREGLIO. 

THOS.  POLSTON. 

CHAS.  F.  REDMAN. 

The  secretary  presented  the  matter  of 
the  proceedings  of  the  convention,  request¬ 
ing  action  by  the  delegates.  Motion  made 
that  we  have  the  proceedings  printed. 
Amendment  offered  that  a  collection  be 
taken  to  print  the  proceedings.  Delegates 
Wills,  Leheney,  Olinger,  Cahill  and  Olsen 
spoke  on  the  motion,  which,  when  put,  car¬ 
ried  unanimously.  The  chair  appointed 
Delegates  Madge  Argo,  Adelaide  Bieser, 
Eulalia  Burke  and  Ruby  Ernest,  to  take  up 
a  collection,  which  they  immediately  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  do.  (Note:  The  collection 

amounted  to  $126.92.) 


Secretary  Ernest  then  read  his  report, 
as  follows: 

SECRETARY’S  REPORT 

TO  THE  DELEGATES  OF  THE  FIFTH 
STATE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  FARMER- 
LABOR  PARTY  OF  ILLINOIS. 

Brother  Chairman  and  Delegates: 

The  Fifth  State  Convention  of  the  Party 
convenes  at  a  time  when  more  political 
eyes  are  directed  Farmer-Laborward,  for  one 
purpose  and  another,  than  at  any  time  since 
the  inception  of  the  movement.  Some  look 
approvingly  and  hopefully;  others  doubtfully 
or  inimically.  The  Party  has  friendships  to 
cultivate,  fears  to  dispel  and  antagonisms 
with  which  to  contend. 

Since  the  National  Convention  of  1920, 
when  the  name  of  the  Labor  Party  wms 
changed  to  the  Farmer-Labor  Party,  the  two 
main  contributing  groups,  agricultural  and 
industrial  workers,  have  forced  to  the  front 
recognition  of  INDEPENDENT  POLITICAL 
ACTION,  to  secure  consideration  of  their 
economic  needs,  in  a  just,  practical  and  legal 


manner.  The  American  people,  and  more 
particularly  the  farmers  and  industrial  work¬ 
ers,  turn  naturally  and  instinctively  to  po¬ 
litical  action  for  relief  from  unnecessary 
and  preventable  evils,  and  even  for  the  so¬ 
lution  of  their  economic  problems. 

No  matter  how  ineffective  poliitcal  action 
may  have  been  proved  to  be  heretofore,  in 
securing  justice  for  the  producers,  the  fact 
remains  that  our  national  past  has  been 
one  of  struggle  for  political  freedom,  equal¬ 
ity  and  democracy.  The  struggle  to  attain 
political  democracy  developed  a  strong  faith 
by  and  through  which  other  great  struggles 
for  freedom  would  be  won.  That  political 
democracy  constituted  a  means  with  which 
all  other  ends,  including  economic  freedom 
and  industrial  democracy,  could  be  secured 
is  a  conviction  held  by  the  vast  majority  of 
the  American  people.  . 

Because  of  this  widespread  sentiment  of 
American  confidence  in  political  action,  the 
economic  organization  of  the  American  farm¬ 
ers  and  industrial  workers  is  perhaps  made 
more  difficult  than  otherwise  would  be  the 
case  if  they  had  not  become  habituated  to 
depend  upon  the  ballot,  without  having  used 
their  franchise  discriminatingly. 

Disillusionment  that  progress  through  po¬ 
litical  action  alone,  and  without  economic 
organization  on  the  part  of  the  farmers  and 
workers,  is  a  slow  process.  The  develop¬ 
ment  of  industry  and  resultant  changes  in 
the  economic  order,  under  private  ownership 
of  the  natural  resources  and  means  of  pro¬ 
duction  for  profit,  have  brought  about  a 
growing  realization  that  POLITICAL  DE¬ 
MOCRACY  WITHOUT  INDUSTRIAL  DEMOC¬ 
RACY  IS  AN  EMPTY  TERM.  This  recogni¬ 
tion  is  beginning  to  penetrate  the  conscious¬ 
ness  of  our  people,  and  they  are  demanding 
industrial  concessions  from  the  state. 

The  collective  mind  of  the  producing 
masses  in  this  country  is  still  for  the  most 
part  in  the  mold  cast  by  our  forefathers, 
which,  based  upon  the  conception  of  legal 
equality  for  all,  would  make  the  state  spon¬ 
sor  for  and  recorder  of  definite  advancements 
for  the  common  good.  The  state  irs  accepted 
as  a  social  instrument.  Only  a  movement 
to  lift  to  higher  levels  the  national  standard 
of  welfare  and  security  will  appeal  to  the 
American  people  as  a  whole.  The  national 
conception  of  justice  and  fair  play  must 
find  expression.  It  will  in  the  Farmer-Labor 
Party  movement  or  the  movement  will  miss 
its  mark 

A  great  body  of  the  producers  as  yet  see 
no  relationship  between  their  own  economic 
circumstances  and  the  industrial  arrange¬ 
ment  of  the  present  system  with  its  state 
and  national  control.  That  the  inequalities, 
disorder  and  discord  result  from  unsympa¬ 
thetic  misrule  and  mismanagement  has  not 
occurred  to  the  people  generally. 

In  a  population  like  ours,  where  class  and 
caste  lines  cannot  be  drawn  arbitrarily,  and 
where  group  proposals  and  accomplishments 
reflect  themselves  for  good  or  evil,  in  im¬ 
proved  conditions  for  some  and  lowered 
standards  for  others,  it  is  natural  to  feel 
that  the  arbitrament  of  the  state,  as  the  na¬ 
tional  expression  to  which  the  common  wel¬ 
fare  is  committed,  be  final.  So  we  find  a 
great  majority  of  the  people  believing  that 
political  action  is  the  only  means  through 
which  changes  should  be  attempted.  For 
this  conception,  no  defense  is  offered.  It  is 
only  recognized  as  one  of  the  outstanding 
facts  in  American  national  life.  Many  yet 
feel  that  the  economic  ills  can  be  cured 
through  political  action  alone,  expressed 
through  either  or  both  of  the  old  parties. 
These  old  parties,  instead  of  condemning  the 
cause  of  the  ills  of  society,  champion  the 
present  method  of  operating  as  well  as  own¬ 
ing  industry.  The  old  party  directors  do 
not  recognize  our  economic  disorder  as  the 
effect  of  a  deepseated  disease  in  the  eco¬ 
nomic  system.  They  diagnose  and  treat 
symptoms,  as  the  a41opath  school  of  physi¬ 
cians  accuse  the  homeopath  school  of  doing. 
They  disregard,  or  discount,  the  causes  from 
which  these  spring.  With  them,  the  prop¬ 
erty  rights  of  individuals  and  corporations 
rise  superior  to  every  human  claim  and  right. 

Our  science  of  pathology  has  advanced, 
and  so  also  our  science  of  medicine  has  pro¬ 
duced  a  change  in  our  therapeutics.  So  in 
the  study  of  production,  consumption  and 
the  service  related  to  these  two  functions 
of  society,  we  learn  that  fundamental  eco¬ 
nomic  disorders  and  grievances  are  inher¬ 
ent  in  our  industrial  and  political  system, 
as  now  controlled  and  operated.  We  have 
a  veritable  plague  growing  out  of  the  prac- 


6 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIFTH  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY 


tice  of  an  unethical  and  uneconomic  thera¬ 
peutics.  „  ....  . 

“Farmer-Labor”  as  a  name  for  a  political 
party  of  producers  has  overcome  the  preju¬ 
dice  against  its  use,  both  within  and  with¬ 
out  the  Party’s  ranks.  It  is  now  a  name 
coveted  by  practically  all  progressive  po¬ 
litical  parties,  and  by  the  office  seekers  and 
fractions  of  the  old  parties  seeking  political 
capital  and  prestige  through  the  use  of 
shibboleths,  rather  than  by  sincerely  advo¬ 
cating  those  fundamental  principles  for 
which  the  Farmer-Labor  Party  stands.  The 
name  is  no  longer  awkward,  if  at  one  time 
it  may  have  seemed  so.  Since  the  campaign 
of  1920,  the  name  of  the  Farmer-Labor  Party 
is  one  with  which  to  conjure. 

The  Farmer-Labor  Party  does  not  propose 
some  new  form  of  government  or  change 
of  the  state  structure,  so  much  as  it  stands 
for  the  recognition,  as  a  political  party,  of 
the  fact  that  progress  must  come  through 
the  working  out  of  a  program  which  will 
develop  as  the  producers  organize  in  de¬ 
fense  of  their  interests.  The  recognition 
of  the  economic  organizations  of  the  farm¬ 
ers  and  city  workers  as  the  foundation  for 
the  structure  which  a  real  democracy  will 
build  is,  in  itself,  disapproval  of  the  capital¬ 
istic  state  as  now  managed. 

Just  what  form  of  government  or  nature 
of  state  the  farm  and  city  workers  will 
evolve  as  they  organize  their  economic  power 
for  action  in  conjunction  with  their  po¬ 
litical  power  (since  the  workers  as  citizens 
are  habituated  to  political  action),  isn’t  de¬ 
termined.  It  is  easier,  because  of  the  ideol¬ 
ogy  of  the  workers  to  secure  political  ac¬ 
tion  than  economic  action,  even  though  po¬ 
litical  action  may  be  less  effective.  Without 
greater  economic  organization  on  the  part 
of  the  farmers  and  wage  workers,  or  pro¬ 
ducers,  resort  to  political  action  must  be 
had  in  order  to  secure  remedial  legislation 
and  prevent  legislation  inimical  to  labor’s 
economic  interests  and  also  secure  proper 
executive  and  judicial  action. 

Labor  fears  politics  for  the  reason  that  the 
economic  power  of  labor  has  been  and  is 
menaced  always  by  the  political  state.  There 
is  nothing  that  endangers  progress,  indus¬ 
trial  and  social  democracy,  as  much  as  the 
paternalism  of  the  capitalistic  or  socialistic 
state.  The  course  that  Labor  must  take 
politically  will  be  determined  by  that  which 
experience  proves  to  best  secure  and  con¬ 
serve  labor’s  economic  freedom. 

Ideologically,  the  Farmer-Labor  Party  is 
located  between  standpat  nonpartisanship 
and  impossible  utopianism.  It  may,  indeed, 
be  to  the  left  of  nonpartisanship  for  pro¬ 
gressive  political  action,  but  it  has  not  yet 
moved  east  to  the  adoption  of  a  program  of 
dictatorship.  Between  the  two  extremes, 
the  right  and  the  left,  the  producers  of 
America  stand  almost  solidly.  They  are  re¬ 
alizing  more  and  more  the  necessity  for  in¬ 
dependent  political  action  as  a  means  of 
grappling  with  immediate  and  pressing  prob¬ 
lems.  Standing  with  them,  being  with  the 
herd  if  you  prefer  it  that  way,  the  Farmer- 
Labor  Party  is  in  sympathy  with  them  We. 
are  not  of  the  right  nor  of  the  left.  Right 
and  left  are  determined  in  relation  to  the 
average  opinion  and  consciousness,  as  rep¬ 
resented  by  the  Farmer-Labor  Party.  Re¬ 
action  is  to  the  right  of  us  and  impossibilism 
Is  J-°  Ideologically,  the  Farmer- 

Labor  Party  represents  the  producers  of  the 
United  States.  It  is  neither  to  the  right 
nor  the  left.  It  holds  the  center.  Time  will 
prove  this  to  be  correct,  and  that  time  is 
not  far  in  the  future. 

Welding  together  the  farmers  and  wage 
workers  into  a  practical  political  movement 
has  proceeded  and  progressed  faster  and 
farther  in  some  states  than  in  Illinois.  There 
is  no  doubt,  however,  that  the  success  at¬ 
tained  in  other  states  affects  our  prospects 
for  greater  growth.  The  stimulus  given 
the  movement  by  its  success  elsewhere  is 
reflected  and  registered  all  about  us. 

Are  we  of  the  rank  and  file,  are  you  as 
leaders,  big  enough  for  our  job?  Have  we 
sufficient  creative  ability  and  loyalty  to  seize 
the  opportunity  which  is  provided?  We  talk 
of  “rank  and  file”  organization,  the  need 
of  one  and  the  hope  in  one.  So  be  it,  but 
I  observe  the  fate  of  a  rank  and  file  move¬ 
ment,  whether  without  leaders  or  with  an 
incapable  or  unprincipled  leadership.  In 
either  case,  the  fate  of  the  flock,  the  herd, 
or  rank  and  file,  is  at  the  mercy  of  the 
wolves,  whether  these  wolves  be  pretenders 
within  or  despoilers  without. 


We,  of  the  rank  and  file,  need  leadership 
with  creative  ability,  energy  and  integrity, 
whether  all  of  us  want  it  or  not.  We  need 
trained  leadership.  Our  economic  and  edu¬ 
cational  organizations  are  our  training 
schools  through  which  the  rank  and  file  pass 
— some  into  leadership. 

We  have  a  name  and  the  beginnings  of 
an  organization,  together  with  an  impreg¬ 
nable  position  politically  and  economically. 
Capitalizing  these  depends  on  whether  we 
have  leaders  able  to  do  it.  Membership  on 
the  various  committees  of  the  party  organi¬ 
zation  is  to  some  extent  a  test.  The  secre¬ 
tary  ought  to  be  a  political  dynamo,  but 
alone  and  unaided  he  can  do  little. 

As  secretary  of  the  party  for  the  past 
two  and  a  half  years,  my  conduct  has  been 
based  on  the  following  conceptions,  as  well 
as  on  that  which  has  been  previously  stated 
in  this  report:  .  , 

1.  The  Farmer-Labor  Party  is  a  citizen 
movement,  which  proposes  to  employ  the  po¬ 
litical  power  of  the  farmers,  and  laborers, 
in  conjunction  with  the  political  support  of 
such  other  elements  as  may  be  induced  to 
join  forces  with  it. 

2.  The  organized  labor  movement  is  a 
contributing  element  which  seeks  to  influ¬ 
ence  this  political  movement  without  intend¬ 
ing  to  dominate  it. 

3.  This  is  a  political  organization  that  in¬ 
terests  itself  with  immediately  pressing 
problems,  and  in  which  the  internal  affairs 
of  economic  groupings  have  no  right  or 
place. 

4.  This  movement  is  primarily  one  which 
seeks  to  relate  essential  productive  factors 
to  the  national  life  and  secure  for  them 
the  recognition  to  which  their  importance 
entitles  them.  It  takes  cognizance  of  and 
will*  endeavor  to  advance  the  interests  of 
every  group,  organized  and  unorganized, 
rural  and  urban. 

Uncompromising  adherence  to  this  policy 
has  brought  me  into  conflict  with  persons 
who  dominate,  or  who  aspire  to  dominate, 
the  movement. 

Information  relative  to  the  plans  and  pro¬ 
gram  to  be  followed  by  delegates  of  the 
Farmer-Labor  Party  to  the  National  Conven¬ 
tion  held  July  3rd  was  not  available.  There¬ 
fore,  in  order  that  the  Farmer-Labor  Party 
delegates  might  be  prepared  to  intelligently 
function  in  the  Party’s  behalf,  and  for  the 
purposes  of  presenting  a  Party  front  with¬ 
out  division,  if  possible,  the  Cook  County 
Branch  (after  holding  a  special  conference 
for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  plans  and, 
purposes  and  program  of  the  National  Con¬ 
vention)  requested  that  the  state  Party  call 
a  conference  of  delegates  of  the  Illinois 
Party  who  were  to  attend  the  National  Con¬ 
vention,  for  the  purpose  of  defining  their 
policies  and  outlining  plans  to  be  pursued 
in  the  national  convention,  and  to  invite 
the  delegates  from  other  state  Farmer-Labor 
Party  groups  to  participate. 

The  State  Secretary  called  such  a  confer¬ 
ence.  This  was  held  Monday  evening,  July 
2nd,  in  Chicago.  State  Chairman  Frank  A. 
Leven  presided.  Mr.  Leven  stated  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  the  meeting  and  called  upon  mem- 
■  bers  of  the  National  Committee  who  were 
present  to  give  us  information  on  organiza¬ 
tion  details  of  the  convention  to  be  held  be¬ 
ginning  July  3rd.  Robert  M.  Buck,  a  member 
'-of  the  National  Executive  Committee,  read 
the  following,  which,  it  was  stated,  covered 
the  action  of  the  National  Committee  at  its 
meeting  that  afternoon: 

“The  Farmer-Labor  Party  is  the  proper 
vehicle  for  united  independent  political  ac¬ 
tion  by  the  working  class.  The  time  is  even 
more  ripe  for  development  of  a  party  by, 
for  and  of  city  and  rural  workers  than 
when  our  party  was  organized  four  years 
ago.  Therefore  an  active  campaign  should 
be  made  for  affiliation  of  unions  and  farmer 
groups  directly  with  our  party  and,  at  the 
conference,  such  organizations  should  be 
urged  to  join  with  our  movement  on  such 
terms  as  may  be  capable  of  development. 

With  national  political  parties  the  situa¬ 
tion  is  somewhat  different.  It  seems  obvious 
that  they  cannot,  not  because  of  any  limi¬ 
tation  by  the  Farmer-Labor  Party,  but  in 
the  nature  of  their  own  structure '  and  pur¬ 
poses,  affiliate  with  the  Farmer-Labor  Party 
on  the  same  basis  as  can  unions,  farm  or¬ 
ganizations  and  political  parties  of  local  or 
only  state-wide  character. 

Moreover,  since  two  of  the  working  class 
political  parties,  namely  the  Socialist  Party 
and  the  Socialist  Labor  Party,  have  elected 
not  to  participate  in  the  conference,  it  would 


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7 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIFTH  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY 


seem  to  be  the  part  of  wisdom,  before  com¬ 
ing"  to  a  definite  agreement,  to  make  further 
efforts  to  get  these  parties  to  agree  to  a 
plan  of  federation  before  final  action  is 
tcikcn 

Therefore  it  might  be  suggested  to  the 
conference  that  it  consider  whether  the 
Farmer-Labor  Party  is  the  proper  agency 
for  such  a  federation  of  parties,  as  well  as 
economic  organizations  and,  if  so,  that  the 
conference  make  such  a  declaration  and  re¬ 
quest  each  party  represented  to  appoint  a 
committee  to  engage  at  once  in  efforts  to 
bring  about  meetings  with  like  committees 
from  parties  not  represented,  in  the  hope 
that  all  working  class  parties  may  be 
brought  into  a  general  federation  in  the 
near  future,  at  least  sufficiently  early  to 
admit  of  united  action  in  the  1924  national 
campaign.” 

The  course  followed  in  the  organization 
and  conduct  of  the  convention  was  directly 
opposite  to  the  plan  the  caucus  called  by 
the  Illinois  Party  had  been  informed  by  the 
National  Committee  would  be  followed.  When 
it  became  apparent  that  the  leadership  of 
the  convention  had  passed  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  Farmer-Labor  Party  of  the  United 
States,  a  caucus  of  Illinois  delegates  was 
called,  to  which  those  representing  the  Illi¬ 
nois  Party  and  delegates  from  affiliated  un¬ 
ions  were  entitled  to  a  voice  and  vote.  Pro¬ 
vision  was  made  for  visitors  to  sit  in  the 
room,  but  without  voice  or  vote. 

The  caucus  adopted  a  motion  which  em¬ 
powered  a  committee  to  draft  a  resolution, 
which  was  later  adopted  by  the  caucus,  in¬ 
structing  the  Farmer-Labor  Party  of  Illi-t 
nois,  unless  the  National  Committee  acted, 
to  call  upon  all  other  national  and  state 
groups  represented  in  the  conference  to  join, 
with  it  for  the  purpose  of  reorganizing  the 
national  Farmer-Labor  Party  along  lines 
consistent  with  our  priciples  and  the  funda¬ 
mental  basis  of  a  truly  constructive  political 
party  of  the  producers,  that  is:  political  and 
industrial  democracy. 

A  committee  consisting  of  Wm.  E.  Rod¬ 
riguez.  John  Fitzpatrick.  Gifford  Ernest,  Lil¬ 
lian  Herstein  and  Madge  Argo,  was  ap¬ 
pointed,  to  secure  mutual  action  with  like 
committees  of  other  groups  in  harmony  with 
the  Party’s  principles,  such  as  the  Progres¬ 
sive  Party  of  Idaho,  Nebraska,  Minnesota 
Farmer-Labor  Party,  and  the  Wisconsin 
Nonpartisan  League. 

This  committee  was  authorized  to  get  in 
touch  with  the  National  Committee  and  re¬ 
quest  them  to  set  a  time  certain  for  a  Na¬ 
tional  Convention  of  the  Farmer-Labor 
Party  in  which  none  but  representatives  of 
the  Farmer-Labor  Party  organizations  and 
other  organizations  affiliated  with  the  Party 
should  sit,  and  that,  in  case  the  National 
Farmer-Labor  Party  officers  did  not  set  a 
time  to  call  a  convention,  the  committee  was 
authorized  to  represent  the  Farmer-Labor 
Party  in  calling  the  convention. 

A  convention  of  the  Farmer-Labor  Party 
was  secured  by  the  above  action,  with  the 
result  that  the  National  Convention  termi¬ 
nated  as  it  did,  when  the  gesture  made  to 
unite  divergent  political  groups  gave  birth 
to  one  additional  group.  (It  begins  to  look 
as  if  the  surest  way  to  increase  the  num¬ 
ber  of  working  class  political  groups  is  to 
try  to  unite  them.) 

The  action  taken  by  the  Illinois  Branch 
of  the  Party  has  met  with  the  approval  of 
practically  all,  except,  of  course,  those  who 
set  out  to  capture  the  Party’s  name,  its 
prestige,  and  its  record  of  honest  dealing 
with  the  labor  movement.  Those  who  were 
disappointed  over  the  outcome  of  the  July 
convention  have  since  been  bent  upon  at¬ 
tacking  and  destroying  both  the  Party  and 
those  whom  they  could  not  attach  to  their 
new  movement,  born  of  the  abortion  by  a 
Caesarean  operation.  They  attack  only  those 
who  stood  and  stand  in  the  way  of  the  thing 
which  would  have  destroyed  the  Party’s  rec¬ 
ord  of  fair  dealing  with  the  labor  move¬ 
ment. 

Now  that,  happily,  as  a  result  of  the  re¬ 
cent  national  conference,  a  definite  line  of 
demarcation  has  been  established  between 
the  Farmer-Labor  Party  and  those  “revolu¬ 
tionary”  elements  who  would  proceed  upon 
the  principle  that  “might  makes  right,”  the 
liberty  loving,  law-abiding  farmer  who  has 
been  so  grievously  exploited,  can  fully  re¬ 
alize  that  the  Farmer-Labor  Party  is  the 
only  available  vehicle  by  which  he  can  travel 
over  the  highway  of  orderly,  constitutional 
processes  to  the  goal  of  economic  better¬ 
ment.  On  the  one  hand,  he  knows  there  is 


no  hope  for  ihm  in  either  of  the  old  par¬ 
ties,  and  on  the  other,  he  has  hesitated  to 
align  himself  with  any  group  of  whose 
sturdy  patriotism  he  has  had  an  inkling  of 
doubt.  Exhibited,  as  he  has  been,  by  Big 
Business  through  the  old  parties,  he  yet  has 
felt  a  repugnance  to  joining  any  movement 
that  held  the  slightest  taint  or  suspicion  of 
the  methods  of  Red  Revolution. 

The  July  conference  has  removed  the 
Farmer-Labor  Party  definitely  and  finally 
from  any  such  suspicion,  and  he  now  knows 
that  he  can  join  consistently  in  our  move¬ 
ment  to  wrest  from  the  predatory  interests 
control  of  our  lawmaking,  law-construing 
and  law-enforcing  machinery,  without  vio¬ 
lence  or  destruction,  and  without  overturn¬ 
ing  those  established  American  institutions 
which  he  and  generations  before  him  have 
held  in  reverence. 

The  need  of  the  movement,  then,  is  organi¬ 
zation.  We  should  send  among  the  farmers 
men  who  know  the  farmers’  problems,  men 
who  realize  that,  were  the  farmer  to  reckon 
production  costs  by  the  methods  of  Big 
Business,  were  he  to  make  suitable  allow¬ 
ances  for  adequate  salary  for  himself,  for 
overhead,  depreciation,  rent,  interest,  taxes, 
and  all  the  modern  “cost”  devices  by  which 
the  business  interests  boost  their  prices,  he 
would  be  losing  money  every  day,  and  that 
his  losses  would  increase  with  the  acreage 
he  tilled. 

At  the  same  time,  the  men  we  choose  for 
this  work  should  be  men  with  the  trade 
union  viewpoint,  who  will  be  able  to  disa¬ 
buse  the  minds  of  many  farmers  of  those 
prejudices  against  the  organized  workers  so 
carefully  and  persistently  inculcated  by  the 
subsidized  commercial  press.  In  other  words, 
we  need  men  who  know  and  feel  the  real 
community  of  interest  that  exists  between 
the  citv  worker  and  the  tiller  of  the  soil. 

To  this  end,  I  suggest  the  method  of  or¬ 
ganization  so  successfully  carried  on  by 
the  Nonnartisan  League.  It  might  be  sug¬ 
gested,  in  opposition  to  this,  that  the  Non¬ 
partisan  League  has  been  only  temporarily 
successful,  but  this  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
its  olan  of  procedure  after  organization  was 
fundamentally  unsound.  It  required  those 
who  joined  it  to  pose  as  members  of  polit¬ 
ical  parties  whose  antecedents,  whose  na¬ 
tional  platforms,  whose  principles  and  prac¬ 
tices,  were  repugnant  to  them.  They  were 
required  to  act  as  members  of  one  of  the 
old  parties  in  one  state  or  one  city  and  of 
the  other  party  in  another  locality.  They 
were  required,  virtually,  to  be  Democrat's 
today  and  Republicans  tomorrow;  while  the 
Farmer-Labor  Party  offers  them  a  political 
home  of  their  own. 

With  the  farmers  organized,  we  need  have 
no  fear  of  those  city  workers  who  yet  re¬ 
main  aloof  from  our  movement.  All  that 
has  retarded  them  has  been  a  lingering  doubt 
of  the  possibility  of  success.  The  knowledge 
that  the  farmer  is  ready  to  join  hands  with 
the  industrial  worker  will  give  them  new 
courage  born  of  consciousness  of  power. 
Knowing  that  they,  also,  have  no  means  of 
relief  from  intolerable  conditions  except 
through  our  program,  they  will  join  us  en 
masse,  and  the  political  and  economic  prog¬ 
ress  of  the  producers  will  go  forward  with 
greater  impetus. 

I,  therefore,  suggest  that  the  State  Ex¬ 
ecutive  Committee  be  given  instructions  im¬ 
mediately  to  secure  organizers  and  inaugu¬ 
rate  an  organizing  campaign  throughout  the 
state,  and  that  a  financial  agent,  with  nec¬ 
essary  assistants,  be  appointed  for  every 
county  in  the  state,  to  secure  funds  for  or¬ 
ganizing  purposes  by  personal  solicitation, 
and  by  appeals  to  individuals,  local  unions, 
and  other  organizations,  all  assistants  to  re¬ 
port  to  the  countv  agent  and  he  to  report  to 
the  state  office,  the  details  to  be  worked  out 
and  the  work  performed  under  direction  of 
the  State  Executive  Committee. 

I  have  information  that  many  farmers  and 
city  workers  who.  in  the  past,  have  endeav¬ 
ored  to  secure  redress  of  grievances  through 
the  old  parties  now  are  abandoning  that  pol¬ 
icy  and  are  more  than  ready  to  sro  along 
with  our  movement.  Results  in  Minnesota 
have  demonstrated  what  militant  action  by 
those  exploited  elements,  acting  co-opera¬ 
tively,  can  accomplish.  A  few  years  ago 
these  two  elements  were  practically  hostile 
groups,  through  lack  of  a  medium  through 
which  a  common  understanding  might  be 
reached.  Each  was  indifferent  to  and  even 
at  times  opposed  to  measures  for  the  relief 
of  the  other.  This  resulted  from  mutual 
prejudices  engendered  by  the  commercial  in- 


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8 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIFTH  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY 


terests  through  the  subsidized  press.  But 
no  sooner  had  there  been  provided  a  com¬ 
mon  meeting  ground  than  they  met  and 
reached  a  common  understanding,  and  the 
fatal  prejudices  which  for  so  many  years 
had  kept  them  apart  were  swept  away.  In 
Minnesota  they  elected  two  members  of  the 
United  States  Senate  and  became  the  domi¬ 
nant  party  of  the  state. 

With  the  results  already  noted  in  Minne¬ 
sota,  with  the  other  states  already  organ¬ 
ized  or  now  in  process  of  organization,  and 
with  Illinois  organized  as  it  should  be  and 
can  and  shall  be,  we  will  have  the  political 
nucleus  of  a  national  movement  that  quickly 
will  become  the  dominant  political  factor  in 
the  United  States. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  next  year  there 
is  to  be  held  a  general  state  and  national 
election.  I  recommend  that  this  body  go  on 
record  for  a  special  nominating  convention 
to  be  held  at  a  time  set  by  this  convention 
or  that  the  Executive  Committee  be  author¬ 
ized  to  call  such  a  convention  at  a  time  to 
be  determined  upon  by  the  committee.  The 
next  regular  convention  would  come  just 
previous  to  the  holding  of  the  State  Fed¬ 
eration  of  Labor  Convention,  which  would 
be  too  late  for  participating  in  the  campaign 
for  the  state  ticket. 

In  order  that  there  may  be  in  readiness  a 
platform  for  consideration  by  this  nomi¬ 
nating  convention,  I  further  recommend  a 
standing  Platform  Committee,  instructed  to 
organize  itself,  each  member  of  the  com¬ 
mittee  to  cover  some  stated  phase  of  the 
platform,  if  this  is  deemed  desirable  and 
practical. 

I  further  recommend  that  this  convention 
take  special  action  on  the  matter  of  pro¬ 
viding  the  Party  with  adequate  financial 
support.  To  this  end.  I  suggest  that  the 
Executive  Committee  be  instructed  to  ap¬ 
point  either  from  its  membership,  or  other¬ 
wise,  a  committee  on  Finance,  the  work  of 
which  will  not  terminate  until  the  close  of 
the  term  for  which  they  will  be  elected  here. 
Such  a  committee  should  be  made  responsible 
for  supplying  the  Party  with  funds  more 
adequate  to  its  needs.  It  is  evident  that  an 
executive  officer  of  the  Party  cannot  do  con¬ 
structive  work  without  the  co-operation  of 
the  Party  in  providing  ways  and  means  for 
activities.  The  duties  of  the  Finance  Com¬ 
mittee  should  be  entirely  and  only  that  of 
providing  funds  for  the  treasury. 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  our  nosition  on  the 
ballot  is  to  be  secured  by  independent  peti¬ 
tion  in  the  campaign  of  1924,  and  to  pro¬ 
tect  our  party  name  from  being  pilfered, 
by  order  of  the  Executive  Committee,  I  had 
the  party  incorporated  as  a  corporation  not 
for  profit. 

In  making  preparation  and  plans  for  this 
convention,  I  asked  for  suggestions  and  as¬ 
sistance  on  the  part  of  the  Executive  Com¬ 
mittee.  In  addition  thereto,  I  have  given 
diligent  and  careful  attention  to  preparing 
for  a  convention  of  merit  and  great  interest. 

T  take  great  pleasure  in  the  fact  that  the 
Farmer-Labor  Party  of  Illinois  is  to  have 
the  honor  of  entertaining  the  first  United 
States  Senator  elected  on  the  Farmer-Labor 
Party  ticket — Henrik  Shipstead,  who  will 
be  our  guest  and  convention  orator  at  a 
massmeeting  to  be  held  Sunday  in  this  city. 
After  many  attempts  by  many  other  groups 
to  secure  Senator  Shipstead,  I  feel  person¬ 
ally  gratified  in  having  been  able  to  present 
to  you  the  fruits  of  my  effort  in  bringing 
him  to  our  great  state.  I  trust  that  every 
delegate  here  will  make  it  his  and  her  pleas¬ 
urable  duty  to  assist  in  the  making  of  the 
mass  meeting  to  be  held  tomorrow  a  great 
success  and  a  step  toward  the  ultimate  po- 
litical  triumph  of  the  Farmer-Labor  Partv 
of  Illinois. 

Aside  from  the  many  victories  won  in  lo- 
cai  spring  elections,  in  townships,  towns  and 
cities,  in  Illinois,  one  of  the  greatest  vie- 
tones  which  our  Party  helped  to  win,  was 
tne  defeat  of  the  proposed  new  state  con¬ 
stitution  at  the  special  election  held  last  fall, 
on  December  12th.  It  isn’t  too  much  to  say 
that  the  Parmer-Labor  Partv  started  the 
campaign  which  lead  to  the  rejection  of  the 
proposed  constitution.  This  was  done  by 
the  party  waging  an  energetic  campaign  for 
the  election  of  delegates  to  the  Constitu¬ 
tional  Convention  on  a  platform,  the  princi- 
w£jch  were  the  argument  used  in 
defeating  the  draft  when  it  was  submitted 
to  the  voters.  The  educational  effect  of  our 
state-wide  campaign  in  the  fall  of  1919  was 
such  as  to  bring  about,  through  the  leader¬ 
ship  of  the  Illinois  State  Federation  of  La¬ 


bor,  a  campaign  last  fall  which  effectively 
defeated  the  interests  which,  in  the  recent 
session  of  the  Illinois  legislature,  caused  the 
producers  of  our  state  so  much  worry  and 
trouble  in  the  presentation  of  bills  which 
consumed  the  energy  and  time  of  our  citi¬ 
zenship,  in  securing  their  defeat. 

The  News  Letter  of  the  State  Federation 
of  Labor  of  June  23,  1923,  states  that  scarcely 
a  bill  of  any  consequence  was  discussed  in 
the  Illinois  Legislature  without  devoting 
most  of  the  argument  to  the  consideration 
of  what  interpretation  some  judge  might 
place  upon  the  language  of  the  bill  in  case  it 
should  be  passed,  or  whether  the  courts  might 
or  might  not  declare  it  to  be  invalid.  It  is 
evident  that  the  greater  portion  of  our  time, 
energy  and  money  is  being  spent  to  secure 
the  defeat  of  proposed  legislation  inimical 
to  labor’s  interests  instead  of  constructive 
legislation  in  the  interests  of  our  common 
welfare.  The  problem  of  legislation,  the 
News  Letter  further  states,  is  becoming  in¬ 
creasingly  difficult  because  the  will  of  the 
people  may  no  longer  be  fully  expressed 
through  the  regular  legislative  body.  We 
have  to  get  our  satisfaction  through  the 
dangerous  bills  we  defeat,  rather  than 
through  the  bills  enacted.  How  long  will 
the  farmers  and  wage  workers  of  Illinois 
pursue  this  negative,  expensive  and  inef¬ 
fective  course? 

What  is  being  done  in  other  states,  can 
and  MUST  BE  DONE  in  this  state.  The 
development  of  confidence,  the  laying  of 
plans,  the  drafting  of  programs,  is  work  for 
this  convention,  to  the  end  that  Illinois  join 
the  ranks  with  Minnesota  and  other  states 
'where  independent  political  movements  have 
attained  the  position  of  second  party  with 
strong  prospects  of  being  the  dominant  party 
in  the  next  campaign.  A  strong  national 
movement  is  necessary  to  give  virility,  hope 
and  victory,  by  combining  or  co-ordinating 
the  activities  of  the  various  state  movements 
in  a  national  campaign. 

(Signed)  GIFFORD  ERNEST, 

Secretary-Treasurer. 

Delegate  Polston  moved  that  the  report 
of  the  secretary  be  turned  over  to  the  Com¬ 
mittee  on  Officers’  Reports,  that  committee 
to  work  in  conjunction  with  the  Commit¬ 
tee  on  Organization.  Seconded. 

Amendment  offered  and  seconded,  and 
accepted  as  part  of  the  original  motion,  that 
the  Committee  on  Officers’  Reports  be  in¬ 
structed  to  retire  immediately.  Motion  car¬ 
ried. 

Delegate  Leheney  asked  the  chair  for  an 
interpretation  of  the  motion  and  the  chair 
ruled  that  the  committee  would  first  re¬ 
port  to  the  convention,  making  such  recom¬ 
mendations  as  it  deemed  necessary  and  re¬ 
ferring  portions  to  Committee  on  Organiza¬ 
tion,  etc. 


REPORT  OF  AUDITING  COMMITTEE 

Report  of  Auditing  Committee  was  read 
by  Delegate  James  Cahill,  as  follows:  Dele¬ 
gate  Bisser  moved  that  the  report  be  ac¬ 
cepted  and  made  part  of  the  record.  Sec¬ 
onded  and  carried. 

Accounts  Outstanding  as  of  September  1,  1023: 


Jacobson  Printing  Co . $  90.25 

Tom  Tippett  .  170.00 

Federated  Press  .  25.00 

George  Wiley  .  7.40 

Wm.  E.  Rodriguez  .  22.66 

Gertrude  Fitzgerald  .  19.42 

Joseph  A.  Rogers .  15.00 

George  McNeely  .  2.80 

Frank  J.  Esper .  84.55 

Gifford  Ernest  (salary  account) .  160.00 

Gifford  Ernest  (money  advanced  for 

postage  for  convention  call) .  32\00 

Gifford  Ernest  (money  advanced  for 

traveling  expenses  for  organizer)..  40.00 

McGregor  Paper  Co .  6.19 


Gifford  Ernest  (account  previously 
cancelled) — in  campaign  for  1920— 
$89.00. 


9 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIFTH  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY 


REPORT  OF  AUDITING  COMMITTEE 

(For  period  from  October  1,  1922,  to  and  in¬ 
cluding-  August  31,  1923.) 

Receipts: 

Donations  . $  224.15 

Per  Capita  Tax .  1,597.79 

Dues  Books  and  Stamps .  171.60 

Traveling  Expenses  .  213.84 

Convention  Fees  .  320.00 

Miscellaneous  .  249.85 

Pledges  .  170.00 

Literature  and  Buttons .  49.00 


$2,996.23 

Expenditures : 

Salaries  . $1,771.07 

Postage  and  Petty  Cash .  85.92 

Rent,  Office  Expenses  &  Supplies  236.34 

Printing  and  Literature .  218.25 

Dues  Books  and  Stamps .  44.78 

Traveling  Expenses  .  264.78 

Per  Capita  Tax .  104.96 

Miscellaneous  .  254.46 


$2,980.56 

Recapitulation: 

Balance  on  hand  October  1,  1922.$  62.35 

Receipts  from  October  1,  1922,  to 

and  including  August  31,  1923.  2,996.23 


$3,058.58 

>  Disbursements  from  October  1, 

1922\  to  and  including  August 

31,  1923  . $2,980.56 

Balance  on  hand  September  1, 

1923  .  78.02 


$3,058.58 

Audited  and  found  correct,  Tuesday,  Sept. 
4  1923 

FRANK  A.  THEIS. 

JAMES  M.  CAHILL. 

GEO.  W.  WHITEHEAD. 


REPORT  OF  ELECTION  COMMITTEE  ON 

RULES 

Delegate  Hayman  presented  report  of  the 
Election  Committee  on  Rules,  which  was 
adopted  as  read.  The  report  follows: 

We  hereby  wish  to  recommend  the  follow¬ 
ing  rules  governing  the  nominations  and 
election: 

Sec.  1 — That  nominations  take  place  on 
the  afternoon  of  the  first  ddy’s  session  (Sep¬ 
tember  8th). 

Sec.  2 — That  after  nominations  are  closed 
they  cannot  be  reopened,  except  by  a  ma¬ 
jority  vote  of  the  convention. 

Sec.  3 — Election  to  be  held  on  the  morning 
of  the  second  day’s  session. 

Any  changes  or  additions  to  be  subject  to 
the  delegates. 

(Signed)  CHAS.  HAYMAN, 

MRS.  P.  J.  CARLSON, 

H.  A.  COX, 

JENNIE  W.  BUCK. 

While  waiting  for  reports  of  committees 
and  for  the  time  for  nominations  for  officers 
to  arrive,  Delegate  S.  D.  Wham,  a  “dirt” 
farmer  from  Cartter,  Illinois,  gave  a  short 
address,  which  was  greatly  enjoyed  by  all 
the  delegates. 


NOMINATIONS  FOR  PARTY  OFFICERS 

The  time  for  nominations  having  arrived, 
the  Secretary  read  section  of  constitution 
regarding  election  of  officers.  The  chair 
then  called  for  nominations  for 


STATE  CHAIRMAN:  Delegate  Wills 
placed  in  nomination  the  name  of  Frank 
A.  Leven,  incumbent,  Danville.  Delegates 
Polston  and  Rodriguez  seconded  the  nomi¬ 
nation.  No  further  names  being  presented, 
nominations  were  declared  closed. 

NATIONAL  COMMITTEE  MEMBERS: 
Delegate  Leheney  placed  in  nomination  the 
name  of  John  Fitzpatrick,  Chicago. 

Delegate  Wills  placed  in  nomination  the 
name  of  Mrs.  Dora  Nordboe,  Chicago. 

Delegate  McElroy  Trout  nominated  Ruby 
Huber  Ernest,  Chicago,  whose  nomination 
was  seconded  by  Delegate  Olinger. 

There  being  no  further  nominations,  nom¬ 
inations  were  declared  closed. 

STATE  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE:  The 
following  were  nominated  for  membership 
on  the  State  Executive  Committee: 

Charles  F.  Wills.  Chicago. 

Jacob  Bollman,  Belleville. 

W.  Thos.  Polston.  Chicago. 

Arthur  Olsen,  Chicago. 

Robert  M.  Buck,  Chicago. 

James  M.  Cahill,  Chicago. 

Charles  Hagen,  Mount  Olive. 

A.  D.  Sullens.  Benton. 

David  A.  McVey,  Chicago. 

Wm.  E.  Rodriguez,  Chicago. 

Dora  Nordboe,  Chicago. 

Madge  Argo,  Joliet. 

Thos.  G.  McCabe,  Chicago. 

Mrs.  P.  J.  Carlson,  Rock  Island. 

S.  D.  Wham,  Cartter. 

Eulalia  E.  Burke,  Chicago. 

Wm.  Tracy,  Lansing. 

J.  W.  Ford,  Herrin. 

Gertrude  Fitzgerald,  Chicago. 

Julia  Lordan,  Centralia. 

McElroy  Trout,  Johnston  City. 

Otis  Clark,  Herrin. 

Marian  Fuller,  Chicago. 

Adelaide  Bieser,  Centralia. 

J.  T.  Lloyd,  Coulterville. 

Bert  Gray,  Collinsville. 

James  W.  Short,  East  St.  Louis. 

J.  J.  Uhlmann,  Chicago. 

Josephine  M.  Lovreglio,  Chicago. 

Alex.  Reese,  Sr.,  Central  City. 

Tim  Spain,  Chicago. 

Theodore  Bisser  of  Quincy  and  Frank 
Theis  of  Chicago  were  also  nominated  but 
declined.  There  being  no  further  names 
presented,  nominations  were  declared 
closed. 


AUDITING  COMMITTEE. 

The  following  were  placed  in  nomination 
for  Auditing  Committee: 

James  Cahill,  Chicago. 

Lewis  P.  Hill,  Chicago. 

Frank  A.  Theis,  Chicago. 

Anthony  Koselke,  Lansing. 

Glenn  Campbell,  Chicago. 

W.  Thos.  Polston,  Chicago. 

A.  M.  Corazza,  Taylor  Springs. 

C.  T.  Reummler,  Benton. 

Hattie  Hayman,  Chicago. 

Fred  Pittman,  Johnston  City. 

There  being  no  further  nominations,  nom¬ 
inations  were  declared  closed. 

At  5  o’clock  p.  m.  the  convention  ad¬ 
journed,  to  reconvene  at  7  o’clock. 


FIRST  DAY — Evening  Session 


Chairman  Leven  called  the  convention  to 
order,  and  a  supplemental  report  of  the 
Credentials  Committee  was  read  and  ac¬ 
cepted. 

Thomas  Kelly,  Vice-President  of  the  Illi¬ 
nois  State  Federation  of  Labor,  addressed 
the  convention  on  the  matter  of  the  un¬ 
organized  condition  of  the  barber  shops  in 
Decatur  and  asked  the  delegates  to  patron¬ 
ize  only  union  barber  shops.  He  also  told 
of  the  “open  shop”  fight  at  Streator. 


Delegate  Brown  moved  that  a  collection 
be  taken  up  for  the  benefit  of  the  men  on 
strike  in  Streator,  to  be  turned  over  to 
Victor  A.  Olander,  Secretary  of  the  Illinois 
State  Federation  of  Labor.  Seconded  and 
carried.  (Note:  This  collection  amounted 
to  $77.27.) 

Thos.  G.  McCabe,  of  Painters’  Union  No. 
180,  addressed  the  convention  in  behalf  of 
Theodore  J.  Vind,  of  South  Chicago,  who 
was  framed  on  during  the  steel  strike  in 


10 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIFTH  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY 


1919.  Delegate  McCabe's  address  intensi¬ 
fied  the  feeling  in  behalf  of  Brother  Vind. 

Delegate  Piatt  of  Herrin  spoke  on  the 
union  label,  and  the  Herrin  situation. 

Delegate  Madge  Argo,  of  Joliet,  told  of 
the  effort  to  organize  the  hotel  and  restaur¬ 
ant  employes  of  Decatur.  She  deplored  the 
fact  that  a  labor  convention  should  have 


been  held  in  Decatur  while  there  are  so 
many  trades  yet  unorganized. 

Motion  made  and  carried  that  the  mass 
meeting  to  be  held  for  Senator  Shipstead 
be  held  Sunday  afternoon  at  2:30  o’clock. 

The  convention  then  adjourned  to  meet 
the  following  morning  at  nine  o’clock. 


SECOND  DAY — Morning  Session 


Convention  called  to  order  by  Chairman 
Leven. 

Delegate  Buck,  of  Chicago,  asked  for  the 
floor  on  a  question  of  personal  privilege  to 
reply  to  a  newspaper  story  that  appeared 
in  the  Decatur  Herald,  which  he  claimed 
contained  misrepresentations  which  justi¬ 
fied  taking  the  time  of  the  convention  on  a 
question  of  personal  privilege. 

After  Delegate  Buck  had  spoken  for  some 
time,  Delegate  Ernest  raised  a  point  of 
order  on  the  ground  that  the  question  of 
personal  privilege  to  answer  a  newspaper 
article  was  an  infringement  on  the  rights 
and  time  of  the  convention. 

The  chair  ruled  that  the  point  of  order 
raised  by  Delegate  Ernest  was  not  well 
taken,  for  the  reason  that  Delegate  Buck 
arose  to  this  question  of  personal  privilege 
and  explained  it,  and  that  in  justice  to  him 
or  anyone  else  who  had  been  mentioned  in 
any  lies  of  this  nature,  he  should  be  given 
the  privilege  of  the  floor. 

Delegate  Buck  then  continued.  Delegate 
Ernest  again  raised  the  same  point  of  order 
and  insisted  that  Delegate  Buck  had  not 
the  right  to  take  the  time  of  the  conven¬ 
tion  to  answer  a  newspaper  story  and  tell 
the  story  of  the  National  Convention.  He 
appealed  from  the  previous  decision  of  the 
chair. 

Delegate  Wills  raised  a  point  of  order  that 
Delegate  Ernest  was  taking  his  time  to 
further  assail  Brother  Buck.  The  chair 
ruled  that  the  delegates  should  make  their 
remarks  as  brief  as  possible,  but  that  Dele¬ 
gate  Ernest  was  within  his  rights,  having 
raised  the  point  of  order. 

Vice-Chairman  Wm.  Tracy  took  the  chair 
during  the  appeal.  Brother  Leven  then  ex¬ 
plained  his  ruling. 

Vote  was  taken  on  the  appeal,  which  re¬ 
sulted  as  follows:  Forty-nine  to  sustain 
the  chair;  67  to  overrule  the  chair.  Vice- 
Chairman  Tracy  then  ruled  that  the  point 
of  order  of  Delegate  Ernest  was  well  taken. 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON 
RESOLUTIONS 

Report  was  made  by  Delegate  Wm.  A. 
Lewis,  and  each  resolution  taken  up  seri¬ 
atim: 

RESOLUTION  No.  1 — Submitted  by  Dele¬ 
gates  Josephine  M.  Lovreglio,  Hattie  Hay- 
man  and  Jennie  W.  Buck: 

WHEREAS,  our  economic  system  is  pro¬ 
ductive  of  grave  and  serious  results  as  it  af¬ 
fects  the  womanhood  and  childhood  of  our 
country;  and 

WHEREAS,  the  women  of  the  United 
States  are  aroused  now  as  never  before  be¬ 
cause  of  the  Supreme  Court  decision  de¬ 
claring  the  Child  Labor  Law  invalid,  the 
minimum  wage  law,  the  concerted  attack 
upon  the  Women’s  Bureau,  the  recent  de¬ 
feat  of  the  Women’s  eight-hour  bill  in  Illi¬ 
nois;  and 

WHEREAS,  a  great  struggle  in  the  gar¬ 
ment  industry,  in  which  so  many  women 


are  employed,  is  going  on  against  one  of 
the  most  vicious  injunctions  ever  issued; 
land 

WHEREAS,  there  are  twelve  million  wo¬ 
men  in  industry  in  the  United  States,  most 
of  whom  have  received  little  or  no  education 
in  economic  and  political  matters  and  are 
being  exploited;  therefore,  be  it 

RESOLVED,  that  the  Farmer-Labor  Party 
'declare  its  sympathy  with,  and  wholehearted 
support  of  them  in  the  struggle  for  them¬ 
selves  and  our  childhood;  and  agree  to  do 
all  in  our  power  to  assist  in  changing  the 
deplorable  conditions  in  which  they  must 
live  and  work;  and  pledge  our  co-operation 
/in  organizing  them  economically  and  polit¬ 
ically  to  the  end  that  emancipation  of  the 
'womanhood  and  childhood  of  our  land  be 
accomplished. 

Committee  recommended  concurrence. 
Motion  made  and  carried  that  the  resolu¬ 
tion  be  adopted. 

Resolution  no.  2— Submitted  by  l.  b. 
Strayer: 

WHEREAS,  it  seems  that  the  time  has 
come  when  our  business  organizations 
should  be  reorganized;  therefore,  be  it 
RESOLVED,  that  there  shall  be  no  employ¬ 
ers  or  employees,  but  partners  only. 

Committee  recommended  that  it  be  re¬ 
ferred  to  the  incoming  executive  committee 
for  consideration.  Committee’s  recommen¬ 
dation  adopted. 

RESOLUTION  No.  3a — Submitted  by 

Delegates  H.  L.  Green  and  Theodore  Bisser: 

RESOLVED,  To  ask  the  Illinois  State  Fed¬ 
eration  of  Labor  to  pass  a  resolution  de¬ 
manding  of  Mr.  John  H.  Walker,  its  presi¬ 
dent,  a  denial  or  retraction  of  the  published 
statements  concerning  him  by  or  as  of  the 
Republican  Governor  Small  at  the  Kankakee 
convention,  August  15,  1923,  and  in  the  event 
of  him  doing  neither  to  demand  his  resigna¬ 
tion  from  the  presidency  of  the  Illinois  State 
Federation  of  Labor. 

RESOLUTION  No.  3b — Submitted  by  Dele¬ 
gate  H.  L.  Green: 

RESOLVED,  The  position  of  John  H. 
Walker,  President  of  the  Illinois  State  Fed¬ 
eration  of  Labor,  being  made  ambiguous  and 
uncertain  by  the  publication  of  the  Repub¬ 
licans  of  Illinois,  assembled  in  convention  at 
the  City  of  Kankakee  on  the  15th  day  of 
August,  .1923,  motion  is  hereby  made  that 
Mr.  John  H.  Walker  be  requested  to  clear 
this  subject  matter  in  a  statement  to  this 
convention  now  assembled,  and  the  same  to 
be  made  public  as  widely  as  was  that  of 
Kankakee. 

Committee  recommended  nonconcurrence, 
for  the  reason  that  it  is  contrary  to  the 
policy  of  the  Farmer-Labor  Party  to  inter¬ 
fere  with  or  question  any  activity  of  a 
trade  unionist  acting  in  an  official  capacity. 
Moreover,  this  question  properly  comes 
within  the  province  of  the  Illinois  State 
Federation  of  Labor. 

Delegate  Tracy  made  a  powerful  speech 
against  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions,  in 
which  he  said  that  Mr.  Walker  had  been  in 
Streator  to  help  out  the  brick  and  clay 
workers  there,  and  that  if  the  party  “got” 
Walker  they  would  be  “getting”  the  brick 
and  clay  workers  as  well.  Delegates  Hill. 
Hartmann  and  Lewis  also  spoke  in  favor  of 
the  committee’s  report. 

Motion  made  and  carried  that  the  report 
be  adopted. 


/ 


11 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIFTH  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY 


RESOLUTION  No.  4— Submitted  by  Dele¬ 
gate  H.  L.  Green: 

RESOLVED.  To  start  at  a  definite  time  to 
get  a  recorded  expression  from  as  many 
delegates  as  may  wish  to  give  their  opinion 
on  our  Party  name,  giving  one  minute  only 
by  the  watch  and  a  gavel  rap  to  each,  those 
not  speaking  being  recorded  by  their  si¬ 
lence  as  giving  preferential  consent  to  the 
present  name,  Farmer-Labor  Party. 

Committee  recommended  non-concurrence. 
Recommendation  adopted. 

PLATFORM  AND  PREAMBLE— Submit¬ 
ted  by  Delegate  H.  L.  Green  in  accordance 
with  instructions  from  the  Adams  County 
Branch.  Committee  recommended  that  this 
be  referred  to  Executive  Committee  and,  in 
case  of  or  when  a  platform  committee  is 
appointed,  it  be  referred  to  that  committee. 
Committee’s  recommendation  adopted. 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON  OFFICERS’ 

REPORTS 

Report  was  made  by  Delegate  McElroy 
Trout,  as  follows: 

“The  Committee  on  Officers’  Reports.  Com¬ 
mitteeman  Buck  dissenting,  concurs  in  the 
Secretary’s  report,  and  instructs  its  chair¬ 
man  to  so  report  to  the  convention,  to¬ 
gether  with  such  reference  to  other  con¬ 
vention  committees  as  was  made  by  the 
committee. 

(Signed)  JOHN  F.  LEHENEY.  Sec. 

McELROY  TROUT.  Pres. 
ADELAIDE  BTESER, 

GEO.  W.  WHITEHEAD, 

H.  W.  OLINGER. 

The  committee  referred  the  following  part 
of  the  Secretary’s  Report  to  the  Committee 
on  Organization: 

With  the  farmers  organized,  we  need  have 
no  fear  of  those  city  workers  who  vet  re¬ 
main  aloof  from  our  movement.  All  that  has 
retarded  them  has  been  a  lingering  doubt 
of  the  possibility  of  success.  The  knowl¬ 
edge  that  the  farmer  is  ready  to  join  hands 
with  the  industrial  worker  will  give  them 
new  courage  born  of  consciousness  of  power. 
Knowing  that  they,  also,  have  no  means  of 
relief  from  intolerable  conditions  except 
through  our  program,  they  will  join  us  en 
masse,  and  the  political  and  economic  prog¬ 
ress  of  the  producers  will  go  forward  with 
greater  impetus. 

I.  therefore,  suggest  that  the  State  Execu¬ 
tive  Committee  be  given  instructions  im¬ 
mediately  to  secure  organizers  and  inaugu¬ 
rate  an  organizing  campaign  throughout  the 
state,  and  that  a  financial  agent,  with  neces¬ 
sary  assistants,  be  appointed  for  or  by  every 
county  in  the  state,  to  secure  funds  for  or¬ 
ganizing  purposes  by  personal  solicitation 
and  by  appeals  to  individuals,  local  unions, 
and  other  organizations,  all  assistants  to 
report  to  the  countv  agpnt  and  he  to  report 
to  the  state  office,  the  details  to  he  worked 
out  and  the  work  performed  under  direc¬ 
tion  of  the  State  Executive  Committee. 

The  committee  recommended  that  the  fol¬ 
lowing  sections  be  referred  to  the  incoming 
State  Executive  Committee: 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  next  year  thore 
is  to  be  held  a  general  state  and  national 
election.  I  recommend  that  this  body  go  on 
record  for  a  special  nominating  convention 
to  be  held  at  a  time  set  by  this  convention 
or  that  the  Executive  Committee  be  author¬ 
ized  to  call  such  a  convention  at  a  time  to 
be  determined  upon  by  the  committee.  The 
next  regular  convention  would  come  just 
previous  to  the  holding  of  the  State  Fed¬ 
eration  of  Labor  Convention,  which  would 
be  too  late  for  participating  in  the  campaign 
for  the  state  ticket. 

In  order  that  there  may  be  in  readiness  a 
platform  for  consideration  by  this  nominat¬ 
ing  convention  a  platform,  I  further  recom¬ 
mend  a  standing  Platform  Committee,  in¬ 
structed  to  organize  itself,  each  member  of 
the  committee  to  cover  some  stated  phase  of 
the  platform,  if  this  is  deemed  desirable  and 
practical.” 

The  committee  further  recommended  that 
the  following  section  on  finance  be  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Finance: 


I  further  recommend  that  this  convention 
take  special  action  on  the  matter  of  provid¬ 
ing  the  Party  with  adequate  financial  sup¬ 
port.  To  this  end,  I  suggest  that  the  Execu¬ 
tive  Committee  be  instructed  to  appoint 
either  from  its  membership,  or  otherwise,  a 
committee  on  Finance,  the  work  of  which 
will  not  terminate  until  the  close  of  the 
term  for  which  they  will  be  elected  here. 
Such  a  committee  should  be  made  respon¬ 
sible  for  supplying  the  Party  with  funds 
more  adequate  to  its  needs.  It  is  evident 
that  an  executive  officer  of  the  Party  can¬ 
not  do  constructive  work  without  the  co¬ 
operation  of  the  Party  in  providing  ways  and 
means  for  activities.  The  duties  of  the  Fi¬ 
nance  Committee  should  be  entirely  and  only 
that  of  providing  funds  for  the  treasury. 

Delegate  Trout  then  moved  to  adopt  the 
report  of  the  committee.  Seconded. 

Delegate  Buck  stated  that  he  wishes  to 
present  a  minority  report  as  follows: 

I  recommend  that  these  sections  of  the 
Secretary’s  report  accusing  unnamed  persons 
of  attempting  to  dominate  and  criticising  the 
National  Convention  be  stricken  from  the  re¬ 
port. 

He  then  moved  that  the  minority  report 
of  the  committee  be  adopted. 

Delegate  Rodriguez  moved  the  following 
as  an  amendment  to  the  majority  report  of 
the  Committee,  as  an  addition: 

WHEREAS,  Recent  events,  with  especial 
reference  to  the  victories  of  the  Farmer- 
Labor  Party  of  Minnesota,  have  given  re¬ 
newed  hope  and  encouragement  to  the  La¬ 
bor,  Liberal  and  Progressive  forces  through¬ 
out  the  United  States;  therefore,  be  it 

RESOLVED,  That  the  incoming  State 
Executive  Committee  be  authorized  and  di¬ 
rected  to  take  such  measures  and  action  as 
it  deems  necessary  to  co-ordinate  and  to 
bring  about  the  co-operation  of  the  various 
state  Farmer  and  Labor  groups,  with  a  view 
to  the  advancement  of  the  National  Farmer- 
Labor  Party,  and  with  especial  reference  to 
the  Presidential  Campaign  of  1924. 

The  motion  was  seconded. 

Delegate  Buck  spoke  at  length  in  favor 
of  his  minority  report,  and  discussed  the 
national  convention.  The  chair  ruled  that, 
in  line  with  a  decision  of  the  chair  earlier 
in  the  session,  he  could  not  allow  discussion 
of  the  national  convention  to  proceed. 

Delegate  Leheney  appealed  from  the  de¬ 
cision  of  the  chair  on  the  ground  that  he 
disagreed  with  the  chair’s  interpretation  of 
the  ruling  which  had  been  made  previously, 
since  the  ruling  made  in  the  morning  was 
on  a  question  of  personal  privilege.  Dele¬ 
gates  Brown  and  Rodriguez  spoke  in  favor 
of  the  appeal.  Delegate  Rodriguez  stated 
that  the  only  way  in  which  the  matter  of 
the  minority  report  could  be  discussed,  also 
the  matters  and  things  which  are  involved 
as  indicated  by  the  report  and  by  the  re¬ 
marks,  would  be  by  discussing  the  national 
convention. 

Vice-Chairman  Tracy  took  the  chair,  and, 
upon  vote,  the  decision  of  the  chairman  was 
not  sustained. 

Motion  made  and  carried  that  the  rules 
relative  to  time  for  holding  election  of 
officers  be  suspended,  and  that  the  election 
take  place  at  12:30  o’clock. 

Delegate  Buck  then  continued  the  debate. 
Delegate  Rodriguez  moved  that  on  this 
question  the  rules  regarding  time  limit  of 
speakers  be  suspended,  but  that  no  speaker 
shall  be  permitted  to  speak  longer  than 
fifteen  minutes,  also  that  Delegate  Buck’s 
time  be  terminated  in  the  next  five  minutes 
since  he  had  already  spoken  more  than  fif¬ 
teen  minutes.  Motion  carried. 

Delegate  Buck  shortly  concluded  his  re¬ 
marks. 

Delegate  Cahill  spoke  in  opposition  to  the 
minority  report  and  in  favor  of  the  majority 
report  and  amendment. 


12 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIFTH  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY 


Delegate  Wills  spoke  in  favor  of  the 
minority  report  and  against  the  majority 
report  and  amendment. 

Delegate  Leheney  spoke  in  favor  of  the 
majority  report  and  amendment  and  in  op¬ 
position  to  the  minority  report. 

Delegate  McCabe  spoke  on  the  question, 
and  the  July  Convention. 

Delegate  Rodriguez  moved  that  the  rules 
be  suspended  and  that  the  time  for  discus¬ 
sion  of  this  matter  be  continued  for  forty- 
five  minutes.  Seconded.  Delegate  Chris¬ 
topher  moved  an  amendment  that  the  mat¬ 
ter  be  laid  over  until  seven  o’clock  that  eve¬ 
ning,  inasmuch  as  the  meeting  for  Senator 


Shipstead  was  to  be  held  at  2:30  o’clock. 
An  amendment  to  the  amendment  was  of¬ 
fered  that  the  election  of  officers  be  post¬ 
poned  until  after  the  discussion  on  the  mat¬ 
ter  before  the  house  is  finished.  Seconded. 
The  motion  and  amendments  were  carried. 

Delegate  Rodriguez  then  took  the  floor 
and  spoke  in  opposition  to  the  minority  re¬ 
port  and  in  favor  of  the  majority  report  and 
his  amendment. 

Delegate  Brown  spoke  in  opposition  to 
the  majority  report  and  the  amendment  and 
in  favor  of  the  minority  report. 

Motion  made,  seconded  and  carried  to  ad¬ 
journ  until  seven  o’clock. 


SUNDAY,  SEPTEMBER  9 — Afternoon  Session 


Meeting  was  called  to  order  in  the  High 
School  building,  at  2:30  o’clock,  Chairman 
Frank  A.  Leven  presiding. 

Chairman  Leven  introduced  Delegate  H. 
W.  Olinger,  of  Odin,  who  spoke  briefly  but 
wittily  in  announcing  a  collection  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  the  meeting  arranged  to 
hear  United  States  Senator  Henrik  Ship- 
stead  of  Minnesota.  Collection  was  taken, 
totaling  $76.54. 

Chairman  Leven  then  introduced  Senator 
Shipstead,  who  spoke  in  part  as  follows: 

I  want  to  assure  you,  ladies  and  gentle¬ 
men,  that  it  is  a  pleasure  for  me  to  come 
down  from  Minnesota  to  be  with  you  for  a 
little  while  this  afternoon,  to  see  so  many 
of  the  people  of  Illinois  gathered  from  all 
parts  of  the  state  for  the  purpose  for  which 
you  are  gathered,  and  I  want  to  assure  you, 
men  and  women,  that  I  do  not  come  here 
with  any  idea  that  I  can  tell  you  anything 
new.  I  possibly  thought  I  could  give  you  a 
little  word  of  cheer,  bring  you  a  little  bit 
of  a  message  from  Minnesota,  to  try  and  tell 
you  of  the  things  that  we  have  tried  to  do 
in  Minnesota,  and  the  reason  for  it,  the 
forces  that  made  it  necessary  for  us  to  do 
something  and  how  we  tried  in  our  way  to 
best  meet  those  forces. 

When  I  look  upon  this  audience  I  feel  as 
though  I  were  facing  a  Minnesota  audience. 
You  look  like  my  own  people.  There  is  a 
difference  in  this  audience  that  I  notice, 
however.  Minnesota  audiences  are  composed 
of  about  fifty  per  cent  of  women.  I  have 
always  claimed  that  a  man  could  not  accom¬ 
plish  very  much,  nor  a  group  of  men,  unless 
there  is  a  good  woman  back  of  him.  And 
I  want  to  tell  you,  men,  if  you  are  going 
to  accomplish  anything,  if  you  are  going 
to  turn  America  back  to  the  original  pur¬ 
pose  for  which  the  American  government 
was  founded,  I  don’t  think  you  will  go  very 
f°r  unless  you  have  the  women  help  you. 

They  say  that  life  is  one  constant  change 
from  one  thing  to  another  aird  that  inertia 
and  stagnation  are  a  sign  of  death.  We 
have  had  some  change  in  Minnesota,  in  va¬ 
rious  ways,  and  I  want  to  tell  vou  about  the 
change  we  have  had. 

A  good  many  years  ago  meetings  of  this 
kind  were  held  as  this  meeting  is,  by  about 
ninety-nine  per  cent  men  and  one  per  cent 
women  and  if  you  had  come  to  a  meeting  in 
those  days  the  chances  are  that  you  would 
have  seen  about  a  hundred  men  and  possibly 
two  or  three  women,  the  wives  of  some  of 
those  men,  and  as  the  men  would  gather  in 
the  front  part  of  the  hall  to  listen  to  what- 
ever  might  be  the  business  of  the  meeting 
these  two  or  three  women  would  meet  in 
the  back  part  and  a  conversation  something 
hke  this  would  take  place:  “Yes,  Mary  I’ll 
tell  you  how  to  do  it.  You  take  so  much 
hour,  and  so  much  sugar,  and  so  many  eggs. 

.  I  cannot  recall  an  accurate  recipe 

but  that  was  the  substance  of  the  convex - 
sation.  Now,  that  has  all  been  changed 
Last  winter  we  had  a  convention  in  Minne¬ 
apolis  of  the  Women  Voters’  League  and 

wom6pnWfne  tifaithereA  al?OXJt  °ne  thousand 
women  in  that  auditorium,  and  with  that 

thousand  women  came  two  or  three  men, 


and  as  the  women  gathered  for  the  purpose 
of  transacting  their  business,  these  two  or 
three  men  gathered  in  the  back  of  the  hall. 
A  friend  of  mine,  curious  to  learn  what  they 
were  talking  about,  went  back  there  and 
heard  this  conversation:  “Yes,  Jim,  I’ll  tell 
you  how  to  do  it.  You  take  some  raisins  and 
some  sugar  and  some  yeast.  *  *  *”  And 

so  you  see,  my  friends,  that  there  has  been  a 
change. 

Minnesota  is  one  of  the  great  states  of 
the  Union.  We  have  there  the  raw  materials 
— the  iron  mines.  It  is  the  center  of  the 
milling  industry  of  the  United  States — you 
might  almost  say  of  the  world,  because  it 
is  the  “breadbasket”  of  the  world.  And  all 
of  these  industries  have  built  up  a  political 
machine.  That  machine  is  bi-partisan.  The 
control  of  the  machinery  of  both  political 
parties  is  in  its  hands,  and  the  men  and 
women  who  produce  the  wealth  of  this  coun¬ 
try  were  so  exploited  by  that  machine  that 
the  people  of  Minnesota  arose,  as  our  fore¬ 
fathers  did  in  1776,  in  order  to  obtain  po¬ 
litical  power.  The  economic  organizations 
of  both  the  farmers  and  city  workers  were 
good  but,  after  a  good  many  years  of  suf¬ 
fering,  we  discovered  that  by  political  power 
the  control  of  finances  and  of  transportation 
— control  of  the  economic  life  of  the  people' — 
had  been  given  to  those  who  were  using  it 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  from  the  pro¬ 
ducers  of  wealth  more  than  their  share  of 
the  produce  of  the  producers’  toil.  The  farm¬ 
ers  and  city  workers  learned  they  were  both 
producers  and  were  in  the  same  boat,  and 
combined  their  efforts  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  political  power. 

I  want  to  go  into  some  of  the  reasons  for 
the  action  that  was  taken  in  Minnesota.  I 
don’t  think  these  reasons  are  peculiar  to 
Minnesota — they  apply  all  over  the  United 
States.  It  is  the  old,  old  struggle  between 
capital  and  the  producers  of  weath.  That 
struggle  over  the  division  or  disposition  of 
the  products  of  the  producers’  toil  is  a  very 
old  struggle.  It  has  been,  however,  very 
much  intensified,  due  to  the  tremendous  ex¬ 
penses  of  the  war,  the  tremendous  debt  in¬ 
curred,  and,  as  capital  pays  no  taxes  as  such 
it  necessarily  follows  that  the  producers  of 
wealth  must  either  produce  more  or  they 
have  got  to  get  along  with  a  little  bit  less. 

The  Senator  here  demonstrated  the  propo¬ 
sition  that  capital,  as  such,  pays  no  taxes — 
that  all  taxes,  of  every  kind,  ultimately  are 
passed  on  to  the  consumer. 

A  lot  of  people  at  first  began  to  sav  that 
the  political  problems  of  the  farmers  and 
laborers  and  economic  problems  were  so  en¬ 
tirely  different  that  the  two  could  have  noth- 
ing*  in  common,  because  the  laborer  wants 
to  buy  as  cheaply  as  he  can  and  the  farmer 
wants  to  sell  for  as  high  a  price  as  he  can. 
«ut  the  people  of  Minnesota  have  overcome 
that  idea — the  farmers  and  the  working  peo¬ 
ple  believe  that  they  are  both  producers  of 
wealth.  And  the  very  interesting  thing 
about  it  is  that  the  small  banker  and  small 
business  man  now  are  realizing  that  they 
are  becoming  dispossessed  of  their  prop¬ 
erty,  and  they  have  joined  hands  with  the 
farmer  and  the  working  man  of  the  citv  to 
secure  redress  through  joint  political  action 

m°X.emenut  ha^  had  a  lons-  steady 
growth.  There  have  been  certain  things  hap- 


13 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIFTH  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY 


pen  that  brought  it  about — those  who  ex¬ 
ploited  the  people  have  helped  the  movement 
much  more  than  those  who  were  exploited. 
In  order  that  the  new  movement  can  give 
better  service  to  society  it  should  be  made 
to  function  for  the  people.  Unless  it  can  do 
that,  there  is  no  cause  for  its  existence,  and 
then  it  will  die,  as  it  ought  to  die.  If  it  is 
for  the  purpose  of  office-seeking,  then  it  will 
die  as  any  organization  ought  to  die. 

Issues  are  becoming  more  and  more  para¬ 
mount  before  the  people,  and  the  old  par- 
ties  are  not  meeting  those  issues,  and  they 
are  not  giving  an  answer  to  the  people. 
This  economic  power  that  was  given  to  those 
who  control  the  money  and  credits  of  this 
nation  by  Congress — I  want  to  show  how 
thev  got  that  power,  and  what  they  used  it 
for,  and  what  has  been  the  effect  on  the 
people  of  America;  and  then  I  want  to  dis¬ 
cuss  that  other  power  that  has  been  used 
particularly  against  labor — the  abuse  of  the 
injunction  power  of  the  courts — in  order  that 
I  can  show  you  the  necessity  for  political 
action. 

The  Senator  here,  referring  to  the  great 
change  that  came  all  over  the  United  States 
after  the  signing  of  the  armistice,  told  of 
the  propaganda  sent  out  by  the  Federal  Re¬ 
serve  Board,  by  placards  in  the  post  offices 
and  railroad  stations  of  the  country,  by  ar¬ 
ticles  in  the  newspapers,  all  telling  the  same 
story— all  advising  farmers  and  industrial¬ 
ists  alike  to 

extend  credits  and  borrow  money.  They  told 
the  manufacturer  that  the  world  would  have 
to  come  here  for  fifteen  or  twenty  years  to 
buy  goods  and  they  encouraged  him  to  ex¬ 
tend  his  credit  and  go  into  debt  in  order 
that  the  world  should  be  supplied.  Then, 
when  the  order  went  out  to  call  in  the  loans, 
inonev  became  very  scarce,  and  the  only 
thing  he  could  do  was  to  dump  everything 
on  the  market  in  order  to  pay  at  least 
part  of  the  debt  he  had  been  encouraged  to 
incur.  And  then  we  had  that  terrific  panic, 
which  started  the  farmers  of  the  United 
States  on  that  slippery  road  down  to  bank¬ 
ruptcy. 

And  how  did  it  hit  the  merchant?  He  had 
been  encouraged  to  go  into  debt  and  pile  up 
wares  on  his  shelves,  and  when  the  agri¬ 
cultural  market  broke  the  merchant  couldn’t 
sell,  and  he  couldn’t  pay  the  bank,  and  that 
put  him  and  the  small  town  banker  in  the 
same  boat  "with  the  farmers;  and  when  the 
retailer  could  not  pay  the  wholesaler,  the 
wholesaler  found  himself  in  the  same  boat  as 
the  farmer,  and  the  small  town  banker,  and 
so  he  could  not  pay  the  manufacturer,  and 
the  manufacturer  had  to  close  his  factory, 
and  this  threw  millions  of  people  into  the 
streets.  And  so  the  working  people  of  Amer¬ 
ica  were  thrown  out  of  work.  Every  branch 
of  industry  in  the  United  States  was  affected. 

How  do  we  know  who  did  that?  We  have 
testimony  to  the  effect  that  the  order  did 
go  out  from  the  Federal  Reserve  Board.  In 
1920  I  made  the  charge  that  this  was  an  ar¬ 
tificial  panic,  brought  about  by  the  use  of 
the  Federal  Reserve  Board,  and  I  gave  the 
reasons. 

Senator  Shipstead  here  gave  the  reasons 
— how  Wall  Street  “gambled  at  the  bank 
of  international  politics  and  lost”  how  “Wall 
Street  used  the  Federal  Reserve  Board  as  a 
man  would  use  a  gun  against  another  man, 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  away  his  prop¬ 
erty.”  He  said,  “Money  lost  in  a  European 
gamble  by  Wall  Street,  which  loaned  $10,- 
000,000,000  after  the  war,  caused  the  de¬ 
liberate  planning  of  the  greatest  money 
panic  the  world  has  seen.  The  Federal 
Reserve  Board  used  the  very  power  that 
had  been  created  to  prevent  panics  in  order 
to  create  an  artificial  one  and  rob  the 
American  people  of  billions  of  dollars.” 

Describing  the  tremendous,  deliberately 
planned  calamity  that  threatened  the  farm¬ 
ers  of  an  entire  nation  with  bankruptcy,  the 
Senator  continued: 

They  said  that  the  reason  for  the  fall  in 
the  agricultural  market  was  because  there 
was  no  foreign  demand,  that  Europe  could 
not  buy  anything,  and  we  were  not  export¬ 


ing  anything.  The  year  the  wheat  market 
broke  we  were  told  there  was  no  export 
market.  That  year  we  shipped  out  over 
three  hundred  million  bushels — a  larger 
amount  than  we  had  exported  before.  In 
1923  we  exported  three  times  more  wheat 
than  in  any  previous  year. 

Senator  Shipstead  then  read  the  following 
figures  covering  the  pre-war  year  and  1923: 


Lbs. 

Wheat — Pre-war  year  .  3,000,000,000 

Last  year  .  9,000,000,000 

Wheat  flour — Pre-war  year .  2,000,000,000 

Last  year  .  2,900,000,000 

Corn — Pre-war  year  .  2,000,000,000 

Last  year  .  5,000,000,000 

16  chief  farm  products — 

Pre-war  year  .  9,000,000,000 

Fiscal  year  1923 . 25,000,000.000 


showing  that  we  are  exporting  more  now 
than  we  ever  did  before  the  war,  and  this 
propaganda  that  there  is  no  market  is  not 
true,  but  the  American  farmer  is  not  getting 
the  benefit  of  it. 

He  then  declared  that  the  power  of  the 
Federal  Reserve  Board  must  be  abolished — 
that  the  people  of  Minnesota  are  determined 
that  it  shall  be  done  away  with. 

Going  into  the  question  of  injunctions  in 
labor  disputes,  the  speaker  told  of  their  his¬ 
tory  and  of  their  origin  in  a  day  when  the 
King  ruled  “by  divine  right,”  and  therefore 
“could  do  no  wrong.”  It  was  one  of  the 
privileges  as  well  as  duties  of  the  king  to 
settle,  disputes  between  individuals  and 
since  he  ruled  by  divine  right  and  could 
do  no  wrong,  there  was  no  appeal  from  his 
decrees.  In  time,  however,  the  King  became 
so  occupied  with  wild  boar  hunting  and 
similar  demands  upon  his  time  that  he 
found  it  necessary  to  appoint  a  Chancellor 
to  render  decisions  in  such  disputes,  and 
the  Chancellor,  acting  and  rendering  his 
decisions  in  the  name  of  the  King,  became 
known  as  the  “Keeper  of  the  King’s  Con¬ 
science.”  As  time  passed,  and  more  and 
more  disputes  arose  it  became  necessary  to 
appoint  more  and  more  Chancellors,  more 
“Keepers  of  the  King’s  Conscience,”  who 
rendered  their  decisions  in  the  name  of 
the  King,  who  could  do  no  wrong,  and  hence 
there  could  be  no  appeal  from  their  de¬ 
cisions.  From  this  practice  arose  the  courts 
of  equity  of  the  United  States,  which,  how¬ 
ever,  usually  confined  themselves  to  the 
legitimate  purposes  of  courts  of  equity  until 
1898,  when  the  first  injunction  decree  was 
issued  in  a  labor  dispute.  From  that  time 
this  abuse  of  power  has  grown  until  courts 
issue  decrees  prohibiting  all  manner  of 
activities  of  working  people  in  their  strug¬ 
gle  for  better  conditions,  all  arbitrary  rul¬ 
ings,  all  demonstrations  of  autocratic  power 
assumed  by  one  man  over  other  men,  and 
all  based  on  the  historic  fiction  that  the 
King — in  our  own  time,  the  courts — “can  do 
no  wrong.”  “One  of  the  most  necessary 
things  in  America  today,”  the  Senator  con¬ 
cluded,  “is  to  enact  necessary  legislation  to 
curb  the  power  of  courts  of  equity  to 
issue  injunctions.  The  use  or  abuse  of  this 
power  by  courts  of  equity  is  government 
by  autocrats  and  not  by  law. 

“They  say  that  a  man  can  think  best  on 
an  empty  stomach.  There  were  a  good  many 
empty  stomachs  after  the  Avar,  and  so  we 
learned  something:,  and  we  learned  that 
those  who  were  in  control  of  the  govern¬ 
ment  used  it  to  further  aid  and  help  special 
privilege  collect  the  wealth  produced  by  the 
producers  and  concentrate  it  all  the  time  in 
few'er  and  fewer  hands.  And  we  learned  that 
we  had  to  get  control  of  the  government  to 
eliminate  special  privilege. 

“If  a  new  movement  is  going  to  liberate  the 
American  people,  it  must  have  the  spirit 
found  among  the  people  of  Minnesota.  I 
have  seen  women  in  Minnesota — mothers 
with  babes  in  their  arms — acting  as  chair- 


14 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIFTH  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY 


men  of  meetings.  At  one  meeting,  the  wo¬ 
man  acting  as  chairman  had  a  sick  baby, 
and  she  held  it  in  her  arms,  walking  back 
and  forth  on  the  platform  to  sooth  it  as 
she  presided  over  the  meeting. 

“We  think  we  are  facing  a  crisis  in  Amer¬ 
ica,  and  so  the  producers  in  Minnesota  have 
come  together  for  the  purpose  of  taking  po¬ 
litical  action. 

“Anyone  who  has  studied  a  little  bit  can¬ 
not  help  but  feel  that  Europe  is  going  down. 
Europe  is  paying  the  price  for  its  past 
crimes.  Nations,  like  individuals,  always  pay 
for  their  mistakes.  The  thing  for  us  in 
America  is  to  see  to  it  that  we  do  not  per¬ 
mit  any  more  crimes  than  we  can  finally 
pay  for,  in  order  that  we  shall  not  have 
to  pay  with  our  national  life.  That,  I  think- 
is  the  spirit  of  the  Farmer-Labor  Party 
movement  of  Minnesota.  I  have  tried  to 


SECOND  DAY 


give  it  to  you  hurriedly.  There  are  very 
many  phases  of  it,  but  I  have  tried  to  give 
you  this  afternoon  the  spirit  of  the  people 
of  Minnesota,  and  their  determination.  They 
are  using  the  instrument  that  is  called  the 
ballot,  bequeathed  to  us  by  our  forefathers. 
We  can  vote  to  change  the  government  if 
we  see  fit  to  do  so.  That  is  what  we  have 
started  out  to  do  in  Minnesota,  and  I  take  it 
that  that  is  what  you  intend  to  do  here — to 
restore  the  government  to  the  people,  that 
America  can  carry  out  its  historic  mission. 
And  if  we  do  not  care  to  do  that,  we  cannot 
blame  any  one  but  ourselves.  We  hope  the 
Minnesota  movement  may  be  of  service  to 
America,  and  I  do  not  think  it  is  vain  to 
hope  that  it  may  be  an  inspiration  to  the 
people  in  other  states  whose  hearts  beat 
with  that  wonderful  spirit  which  has  come 
into  the  faces  and  eyes  of  the  people  of 
Minnesota  in  the  last  three  or  four  years.” 

-Evening  Session 


Called  to  order  by  Chairman  Leven. 

Secretary  Ernest  took  the  floor  and  spoke 
on  his  report. 

The  previous  question  was  moved  and  car¬ 
ried. 

The  question  fell  on  the  motion  to  substi¬ 
tute  the  minority  for  the  majority  report 
and  the  adoption  of  the  minority  report.  The 
motion  was  lost. 

Vote  was  taken  on  the  amendment  to  the 
majority  report  offered  by  Delegate  Rodri¬ 
guez.  Amendment  carried. 

Vote  was  then  had  on  the  majority  re¬ 
port  as  amended,  which  resulted  in  its  being 
adopted. 


REPORT  OF  FINANCE  COMMITTEE 

Report  was  made  by  Delegate  McVey,  as 
follows: 

Your  committee  recommends  that  we  put 
organizers  in  the  weaker  sections  of  the 
state  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  branch 
organizations  of  the  state  party  on  the  cent 
per  month  per  capita  basis  as  recommended 
by  the  Rockford  Convention;  organizers  to 
be  selected  by  the  State  Executive  Board  and 
must  be  members  in  good  standing  of  the 
Farmer-Labor  Party. 

We  further  recommend  that  a  monthly 
pledge  card  covering  a  period  of  one  year 
shall  be  prepared  for  presentation  to  the 
delegates  and  others  in  sympathy  with  the 
purposes  of  our  movement,  said  money  to 
finance  organization  work  as  outlined  in  this 
resolution. 

We  further  recommend  a  standing  commit¬ 
tee  on  finance  to  serve  from  convention  to 
convention. 

(Signed)  D.  A.  McVEY,  Chicago, 

CHAS.  F.  WILLS,  Chicago, 
EMMA  WIENECKE,  Rockford, 
JOHN  E.  GILL,  Danville, 

DORA  NORDBOE,  Chicago, 

J.  W.  FORD,  Herrin, 

ARDELL  PATTERSON,  Sec., 
Murpheesboro. 

Delegate  Wills  of  this  committee  stated 
that  it  had  been  decided  by  his  committee 
to  report  the  following  verbally: 

That,  due  to  the  fact  that  we  have  a  very 
fair  representation  of  Labor,  and  this  con¬ 
vention  seems  to  indicate  that  the  move¬ 
ment  is  interested  in  building  up  the 
Farmer-Labor  Party,  the  committee  believes 
that  this  would  be  a  very  opportune  time  to 
get  a  number  of  those  present  who  have  as 
yet  not  become  members  to  join  the  Farmer- 
Labor  Party.  We  have  membership  cards, 
and  we  ask  the  delegates  that  are  here 
today  to  stay  with  the  party,  not  only  for 
today  and  tonight,  but  tomorrow  and  the 
rest  of  next  week,  and  that  you  will  come 
back  next  year  Farmer-Labor  Party  people, 
just  as  you  are  representing  your  organiza¬ 
tion  here  today. 

Motion  made  and  carried  that  the  report 
be  adopted. 


ELECTION  OF  OFFICERS  AND 
COMMITTEES 

The  chair  then  stated  that  we  would  pro¬ 
ceed  with  the  election  of  officers  and  com¬ 
mittees. 

Mrs.  Dora  Nordboe  stated  that  she  de¬ 
clined  the  nomination  as  candidate  for  Na¬ 
tional  Committeewoman. 

Motion  was  made  and  carried  that,  inas¬ 
much  as  there  was  but  one  candidate  for 
State  Chairman,  Frank  A.  Leven  be  elected 
by  acclamation  and  the  secretary  instructed 
to  cast  the  unanimous  ballot  of  the  conven¬ 
tion  for  him. 

Motion  was  made  and  carried  that  the 
secretary  be  instructed  to  cast  the  unani¬ 
mous  ballot  of  the  convention  for  John 
Fitzpatrick  and  Ruby  Huber  Ernest,  as 
members  of  the  National  Committee  for 
the  ensuing  two  years. 

The  convention  then  proceeded  to  elect  a 
State  Executive  Committee,  to  be  composed 
of  fifteen  members,  and  a  State  Auditing 
Committee  of  three  members.  Blank  ballots 
were  distributed,  and  the  chairman  read  the 
names  of  all  nominees  twice.  Alex.  Reese, 
Sr.,  Central  City,  withdrew  his  name  as  a 
candidate  for  State  Executive  Committee, 
and  the  name  of  Otis  Clark,  Herrin,  was 
withdrawn,  inasmuch  as  he  was  not  a  dele¬ 
gate  and  no  one  could  vouch  for  his  wil¬ 
lingness  to  serve.  James  Cahill,  W.  Thos. 
Polston,  C.  T.  Ruemmler  and  Fred  Pittman 
withdrew  these  names  from  the  Auditing 
Committee  nominations.  Ballots  were  col¬ 
lected  and  the  Election  Committee  retired 
to  make  count. 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON 
CONSTITUTION 

Report  was  made  by  Delegate  Bisser,  who 
reported  that  his  committee  had  gone  over 
the  constitution  carefully  and  found  no 
changes  necessary  at  the  present  time.  Mo¬ 
tion  made  and  carried  that  the  committee’s 
report  be  accepted. 

Delegate  Olinger  moved  that  we  extend  a 
vote  of  thanks  to  the  Decatur  papers  for 
their  generous  write-up  of  the  convention. 
Seconded.  Delegates  Leheney  and  Chris¬ 
topher  spoke  against  the  motion,  which  was 
laid  on  the  table  by  vote  of  the  convention. 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON 
ORGANIZATION 

Report  made  by  Delegate  Wilson.  He  ad¬ 
vised  that  his  committee  recommended  that 
the  section  of  the  Secretary’s  report  which 


15 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  FIFTH  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  THE  FARMER-LABOR  PARTY 


had  been  referred  to  his  committee  be  made 
a  section  of  the  constitution.  When  it  was 
pointed  out  that  this  matter  would  have  to 
be  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Constitu¬ 
tion,  the  Committee  on  Organization  agreed 
that  this  matter  be  referred  to  the  Execu¬ 
tive  Committee  for  immediate  action.  Said 
section  is  as  follows:. 

With  the  farmers  organized,  we  need  have 
no  fear  of  those  city  workers  who  yet  re¬ 
main  aloof  from  our  movement.  All  that  has 
retarded  them  has  been  a  lingering  doubt  of 
the  possibility  of  success.  The  knowledge 
that  the  farmer  is  ready  to  join  hands  with 
the  industrial  worker  will  give  them  new 
courage  born  of  consciousness  of  power. 
Knowing  that  they,  also,  have  no  means  of 
relief  from  intolerable  conditions  except 
through  our  program,  they  will  join  us  en 
masse,  and  the  political  and  economic  prog¬ 
ress  of  the  producers  will  go  forward  with 
greater  impetus. 

I,  therefore,  suggest  that  the  State  Execu¬ 
tive  Committee  be  given  instructions  imme¬ 
diately  to  secure  organizers  and  inaugurate 
an  organizing  campaign  throughout  the 
state,  and  that  a  financial  agent,  with  nec¬ 
essary  assistants,  be  appointed  for  or  by 
every  county  in  the  state,  to  secure  funds  for 
organizing  purposes  by  personal  solicitation 
and  by  appeals  to  individuals,  local  unions, 
and  other  organizations,  all  assistants  to 
report  to  the  county  agent  and  he  to  report 
to  the  state  office,  the  details  to  be  worked 
out  and  the  work  performed  under  direction 
of  the  State  Executive  Committee.” 

The  committee  on  organization  further 
recommended  to  the  convention  that  all 
delegates  be  instructed  to  boost  our  official 
organ,  “The  New  Majority,”  and  wherever 
a  labor  party  is  formed  that  at  least  one 
member  in  each  locality  be  selected  to  keep 
in  touch  with  The  New  Majority  to  report 
the  local  news  to  same  in  order  that  all 
localities  may  keep  in  close  touch  with  the 
work  of  the  party. 

Motion  made  and  carried  that  the  report 
be  adopted. 

Delegate  Hill  offered  a  motion,  which  was 
seconded  and  carried,  that  the  Farmer-Labor 
Party  of  Illinois  tender  to  United  States 
Senator  Shipstead  of  Minnesota  a  vote  of 
thanks  for  his  generous  address. 

The  raffle  of  the  two  watches  was  held  at 
this  time,  it  being  announced  that  the  holder 
of  the  number  on  the  seventh  ticket  drawn 
would  be  awarded  the  first  prize  of  a  21- 
Jewel  No.  992  Hamilton  Gentlemen’s  Gold 
Watch,  and  the  holder  of  the  eleventh  ticket 
drawn  would  be  awarded  the  second  prize 
of  a  15-Jewel  14-Karat  Gold  Case  Ladies’ 
Bracelet  Watch.  A  committee  of  three  was 
appointed  to  conduct  the  drawing,  composed 
of  Julia  Lordan,  Adelaide  Bieser  and  Madge 
Argo.  The  name  on  the  seventh  ticket 
drawn  was  that  of  Joseph  Jaros,  Jr.,  Noko- 
mis,  Illinois,  and  that  on  the  eleventh  ticket 
Harry  Morgan,  Johnston  City,  Illinois,  and 
the  watches  were  so  awarded. 

A  motion  was  made  by  Dr.  H.  L. .  Green 
and  seconded  by  Theodore  Bisser,  both  of 
Quincy,  that  the  song  “America,”  being  edu¬ 
cational  and  giving  the  best  evidence  of  true 
and  fundamental  American  sentiment,  be 
recommended  for  adoption  as  the  legally 
standard  song  of  these  United  States  of 
America,  and  that  the  Secretary  be  in¬ 
structed  to  carry  this  on  in  the  essential 
procedure  to  accomplishment  by  the  Con¬ 
gress  of  this  country.  Carried. 


Motion  was  made  and  carried  that  the 
Executive  Committee  be  instructed  to  call 
a  nominating  convention  in  1924  at  such 
time  as  they  deem  necessary. 


STATE  AUDITING  AND  EXECUTIVE 
COMMITTEES  ELECTED 

The  election  committee  presented  its  re¬ 
port  on  the  result  of  the  balloting  as  fol¬ 
lows: 


State  Executive  Committee:  Votes 

Charles  F.  Wills,  Chicago .  47 

Jacob  Bollman,  Belleville .  103 

W.  Thos.  Folston,  Chicago .  37 

Arthur  Olsen,  Chicago .  31 

Robert  M.  Buck,  Chicago .  38 

James  M.  Cahill,  Chicago .  96 

Charles  Hagen,  Mount  Olive....  50 

A.  D.  Sullens,  Benton .  98 

David  A.  McVey,  Chicago. 64 

Wm.  E.  Rodriguez,  Chicago .  105 

Dora  Nordboe,  Chicago .  52 

Madge  Argo,  Joliet .  116 

Thos.  G.  McCabe,  Batavia .  39 

Mrs.  P.  J.  Carlson,  Rock  Island..  112 

S.  D.  Wham,  Cartter .  88 

Eulalie  E.  Burke,  Chicago .  32 

Wm.  Tracy,  Lansing .  114 

J.  W.  Ford,  Herrin .  67 

Gertrude  Fitzgerald,  Chicago....  36 

Julia  Lordan,  Centralia .  81 

McElroy  Trout,  Johnston  City .  67 

Marian  Fuller,  Chicago .  75 

Adelaide  Bieser,  Centralia .  69 

J.  T.  Lloyd,  Coulterville .  75 

Bert  Gray,  Collinsville .  63 

James  W.  Short,  East  St.  Louis..  85 

J.  J.  Uhlmann,  Chicago .  11 

Josephine  M.  Lovreglio,  Chicago.  19 
Tim  Spain,  Chicago .  8 

State  Auditing  Committee: 

Lewis  P.  Hill,  Chicago .  46 

Frank  A.  Theis,  Chioago . .  72 

Anthony  Koselke,  Lansing .  87 

Glenn  Campbell,  Chicago .  43 

A.  M.  Corazza,  Taylor  Springs...  88 
Hattie  Hayman,  Chicago .  42 


Delegates  Jacob  Bolman,  James  M.  Cahill, 
A.  D.  Sullens,  Wm.  E.  Rodriguez,  Madge 
Argo,  Mrs.  P.  J.  Carlson,  S.  D.  Wham,  Wm. 
Tracy,  J.  W.  Ford,  Julia  Lordan,  McElroy 
Trout,  Marian  Fuller,  Adelaide  Bieser,  J.  T. 
Lloyd,  and  James  W.  Short  were  declared 
elected  on  the  State  Executive  Committee. 

Delegates  Frank  A.  Theis,  Anthony  Ko¬ 
selke  and  A.  M.  Corazza  were  declared 
elected  as  the  State  Auditing  Committee  for 
the  ensuing  year. 

(NOTE:  When  the  Executive  Committee 
met  next  day,  Mrs.  P.  J.  Carlson,  who  was 
a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Election, 
advised  that  an  error  had  been  made  by 
the  committee  in  transferring  the  number 
of  votes  from  one  sheet  to  another,  and, 
therefore,  that  David  A.  McVey  was  elected 
instead  of  McElroy  Trout.  A  recount  of 
the  ballots  was  ordered  by  the  committee, 
but  before  this  was  done  Miss  Julia  Lordan 
resigned  from  the  committee,  stating  that 
by  her  election  Marion  County  would  have 
three  members  on  the  committee,  one  of 
whom  was  a  member  of  her  own  local  union, 
and  that  she  thought  it  fair  that  other  sec¬ 
tions  of  the  state  be  represented.  By  her 
resignation,  McElroy  Trout  was  placed  on 
the  committee,  and  it  was  then  felt  that  a 
recount  was  unnecessary.) 

Motion  made  and  carried  that  the  report 
be  adopted. 

The  Fifth  Annual  Convention  of  the  Illi¬ 
nois  Branch  of  the  Farmer-Labor  Party 
then  adjourned  sine  die. 

GIFFORD  ERNEST, 

Secretary. 


16 


